we are far from home but we're so happy
by GCC Human Being
Summary: Jeff finally leaves Colorado, and Annie tags along.
1. Chapter 1

Spoilers: Current  
>Disclaimer: I don't own Community.<br>Author's Note: So I've wanted to write this story for about a year, and I finally got around to it. It takes place in the summer after season 5. The title comes from the song From Finner by Of Monsters and Men.

Thanks to my friend Caitlin for the beta. On here she's Wandering Violinist but regardless I'd thought I'd throw her a shout out.

#

It's the last week of June and Jeff finds himself in one of the recliner seats at Annie and Abed's apartment. He's drinking a glass of iced tea while reclined as far back as he can in his chair. Annie's sitting in the recliner next to him splitting her attention between watching TV and painting her nails a cheery shade of yellow.

Nothing's on, so they're watching a special on the Travel Channel on the top fifteen most expensive hotel suites.

This is pretty much his life for now.

One of the few perks of working at Greendale is the fact he receives random vacations in the year, and from now until a few weeks after the Fourth of July he has off before he has to begin his summer school classes. But for right now lounging around doing nothing is pretty typical, that or he hangs out with Annie a lot.

Because they're friends.

And friends do that sort of thing.

They'll see a movie every once in a while, or they'll get coffee at the coffee place a few blocks from his apartment (correction: they'll both buy coffee with their own money. He doesn't want to get any more annoying lectures from Shirley and he sure as hell is not going to be giving her ammunition like: "he buys her coffee therefore they must be dating."). He once had her over at his apartment to help him rearrange furniture, and about fifteen minutes in he received an angry phone call from Shirley saying she didn't approve of Jeff and Annie's non-existent relationship. So he played it off and invited her over to help. Once she came he assumed that she had forgotten all about why she nagged him in the first place, and he sat back and watched the two girls bicker over where the bookshelf should go.

Annie's life doesn't seem all that hectic either, at least he doesn't think it is. She has her job at the police station where she's a receptionist and she gets to keep her future career in mind. He hears her whine about the early hour and hears her rejoice over the fact that she gets off work in time to beat the Greendale traffic on the main street. Everyone is doing something this summer, whether it be traveling, or seeing family, or working, and for the most part neither Jeff nor Annie are horribly busy at the moment, and they spend a lot of time doing nothing.

Doing nothing together.

"Jeff?" Annie asks in the midst of blowing on her nails.

He takes his eyes of the TV that was showing some suite in Hong Kong to raise his eyebrows at her.

"Do you mind," she holds out her right hand lacking yellow polish, "I'm right han-"

"Nope," he shakes his head interrupting her. "Not happening."

She offers him a tentative smile, "Please! I'm so bad at my right hand you have no idea."

"Annie, I'm your friend. Not your manicurist. Besides, how do you know I'd even do a good job?"

"Because you'd be painting my nails with your dominant…" she mutters.

"Whatever, not doing it."

She purses her lips and rolls her eyes as she begins to attempt to paint her right thumb. She focuses in and sticks out her tongue a little bit and he can't help but snicker.

"Shut up, you're distracting me!" She cries without breaking focus to look up. He sees a smile creeping up on her face as she tries to concentrate on her thumb. She finally finishes her thumb and looks up at him, her hair falls in her face and she's trying to move it without getting her wet fingers in her hair. Much to his amusement she does a dramatic hair flip to get it all out of her face.

He's snickering into his glass, "That was cute." He offers her a smug smile.

"I'm going to paint my middle finger next for you," she sneers.

He snickers and returns back to the TV to see the host touring a hotel in Hong Kong. It had breathtaking views of the city from the rooms own private terrace. The suite had sleek modern furnishing with futuristic appliances. They toured the spa, gym, bar, restaurants, and lobby as well as a few other rooms before cutting to a commercial.

After one break Annie's done with her nails.

"Look Jeff," she shoves her hand in his face. "Look at how horrible this is."

He snickers and grabs her wrist and pushes it away. "They're fine," he reassures without really looking.

"No they're not!" She picks at the dried yellow on the edge of her nail. "They're really messy," she huffs.

He tunes out her whining to look at the new room showing on the screen. It's somewhere in Turkey on some beach he can't pronounce.

"Holy shit!" Jeff exclaims when he hears the price.

Her eyes go wide and she stares at him in shock, "Jeff! What?"

"You can spend up to sixteen thousand a night at this hotel! That's crazy!" He doesn't take his eyes of the screen as he scoots forward.

"WHAT?!" She lurches herself forward and ends up at the edge of her seat.

"Sixteen thousand," he repeats. "That's just- wow," he shakes his head at the thought of throwing sixteen thousand dollars out of his bank account for just one night.

"I don't even think I have sixteen dollars in cash right now…" she mutters to herself before snapping back to reality. "This is so crazy. Where is this place anyway?"

"Turkey, some city I don't know, but look at the crown molding on the walls! It looks so fancy."

"Really Jeff, the crown molding on the walls, that's what makes a room worth sixteen thousand a night? Look at the bathroom and the marble, it's everywhere. And the view of the beach, oh my goodness," she gasps nearing the edge of her seat.

"I want to live there," he chuckles as she sighs with her hands on her face, staring at the lavish world on the other side of the television.

"I want to be a princess and live there."

He snickers at her, but honestly can't really blame her.

There were hearts in his eyes as the host talked about the twenty four hour gym with top-of-the-line equipment with personal trainers available, and the spa amenities. The man walked out the infinity pool and the extravagant courtyard that overlooked the Sea of Marmara. The ottoman architecture was evident throughout the whole palace, but especially in the lobby. Turkish patterns covered the floor and marble and mahogany cover the walls. The camera panned to show the chandeliers as the TV faded to black for a commercial break.

"Wow," he sighs.

"Yeah," she laughs, eyes wide in disbelief.

"You know, the crazy thing is that the show just started and, that means there are thirteen more hotels more expensive than this."

She gets up and heads toward the kitchen, "I'm making popcorn, we are definitely watching the rest of this," she calls.

"Won't you mess up your nails?" he teases.

She pops out from the kitchen pinching a bag of popcorn between her thumb and index finger and ripping the plastic with her teeth, "Not my first rodeo," she smirks. "Plus the polish I use only takes about ninety seconds, but I appreciate your very sincere concern."

She comes out of the kitchen with a few bags of popcorn composited into a bowl and sets it on a dining room chair placed between them.

"It's about to start again," he mumbles sticking his hand into bowl grabbing a fistful of popcorn.

"Did he say where the next one would be?" She questioned while checking her nails for any sign of damage.

"Russia."

She carefully tosses popcorn in her mouth and sits comfortably with her back against the seat, "I don't think I'd do Russia for more than sixteen thousand a night," she laughs.

"I don't think I'd do anywhere for more than sixteen thousand a night," he qualifies.

The show comes back and they're both gaping at the extravagance and the elegance of the hotel suites. The order went Moscow, Dubai, Paris, Bahamas, and then Tokyo until Rome.

European architecture, elegant mahogany floors and walls, a private spa, paintings on the ceiling, and Jeff was in heaven.

Well, he could be in heaven for thirty thousand dollars a night.

"That one was my favorite," Jeff announces when it cut to a commercial.

"I think the one in Turkey was my favorite, or maybe the one in Paris. I don't know, I wouldn't be too picky if I could stay in either hotel," she grins. "But I'm not sure I'd go to Turkey, Paris maybe. Who even goes to Turkey?"

"People that have seen most of the world and are running out of places to go."

"Well, that certainty isn't me. I've never even left this country," she chuckles quietly.

"I've never even made it out of Colorado," he retorts.

"Right," she remembers. "I find that hard to believe."

"Why?" He chuckles.

She shrugs, "I don't know, you seem like the type that would have seen the world already."

He makes a face, "Okay—I'm not Britta you know."

"I'm not saying that's bad! I'm just saying you fooled me."

"Where have you been?" he asks after a moment of zoning out at the commercial that was playing.

"Arizona. Woo," she cheers unenthusiastically.

"Hey, it's one more place than me," he reaches for his tea to take a sip. "So the Grand Canyon in Arizona?"

She nods, "Yeah, it was a family vacation. The first and last," she sighs.

"Sounds fun," he teases.

"Oh, you have no idea, it was thrilling. It was before the divorce so as you can imagine it was a blast," she mumbles as the sarcasms drips from her lips. "The actual Grand Canyon was cool but other than that…"

"So that's it? The Grand Canyon?"

She shoots him a look.

"Hey, it's one more state than I've been to."

"Yeah, that's it. I've never really traveled to anywhere important or been anywhere cool, besides Denver."

"Denver isn't cool though," Jeff chuckled.

"Yeah it is, it's a city. It's fun."

"But you live in a subdivision of Denver."

She tries to come back with a counter, "Doesn't count. That's not traveling, go to a big city that you don't live in."

"Okay, Mister I've traveled nowhere, what are some places with the Jeff Winger stamp of approval?"

"I don't know? New York, Chicago, Vegas, Seattle maybe? Nashville if you're into country music? Beaches? Other countries?" He pulls from his head. "Those count, those are cool places. Just get out of Greendale."

"You should take your own advice," she rolls her eyes.

"I'm actually going up to California at the start of the month, so watch your tone with me," he points.

"Ooh, California," she smiles. "Are you going with…" she trails off, trying to think of someone that would go with him.

"Alone," he answers. "I'm just going to do my mom and her husband a favor. Rob invests in real estate in California and rents out these really nice multi-million dollar homes. He just got a property renovated so I'm going up there to take photos so he can rent it out. Oh, he's a millionaire by the way," he chuckles, "not some guy who's irresponsible with money or any of that."

"I didn't know she was remarried."

"Yeah, she remarried in ninety-seven or ninety-eight. So I didn't get a chance to reap the benefits of a rich step dad."

"Jeff!" She exclaims.

"What? I didn't!"

She rolls her eyes and tosses more popcorn in her mouth, "Still. So, are you going to do anything cool in California? Other than stay in a million dollar home."

"Eleven million dollar home," he corrects with a smile.

Her eyes go wide and her mouth drops open but no words come out.

Their show comes back before Annie can express her want for him to see as much as he can on the drive up and while he's in California. They both quiet down as the host was showing off some place in Italy, then Athens, Vegas, Cannes which is in France? Then there was New York, somewhere in India, and finally number one at about sixty five thousand dollars a night, Geneva.

The suite was equipped with a billiard room, library, a grand piano, and its own private fitness center (which he's in love with). The suite took up the entire top floor of the hotel it was on and had twelve rooms. Jeff and Annie both gawk at the top of the line furnishings, the views of the lake and mountains, and of course, the price.

Jeff may be staying in a mansion but at least he isn't paying for it.

Sixty five thousand a night is a bit too much.

The special is over and they've successfully spent an entire evening doing nothing productive. Annie gets a few yawns out and Jeff figures he better get going, because she's working in the morning and he's somewhat tired himself.

When he gets home he heads for the shower before he has the chance to lie down and fall asleep. He gets under the warm spray, and thinks of the house. Honestly, he's excited not to leave the state or anything but to go stay in a really nice house before summer school starts.

But the moment he thinks of the fact that he's making the trip alone he feels kind of bad.

Unless…

No.

Maybe he could just send Annie a snarky post card saying 'I went through Utah, Arizona, and Nevada to get to California, take that.

He's washing his hair when he gets soap in his eye and his thoughts about California cease for the night.

#

The next morning he refuses to think of the idea of him and Annie in California together.

Just with the way he feels about her, he doesn't want to lose whatever friendship they have.

He has all these thoughts before he gets out of bed and he's already regretting letting himself think about that stupid house and the thought of him and Annie possibly occupying it.

#

He calls his mother before lunch to see if he could add a few days to his trip. She says 'of course' and then he asks if he could maybe take a friend up there. He feels like a teenager bringing a friend on a family vacation, but when his mother says its fine he stops caring- and somehow he does all of this without revealing that his friend is a girl named Annie.

He's all set to go up there on the first and come back on the eighth and she gives him a million "thank you's" for doing them the favor.

#

He stares at his phone for a good portion of the afternoon. He has composed the same message, or something similar, about a dozen different times. He takes out all the information about California, and beaches, and vacation, and just sends to Annie: "Give me a call when you're off work tonight."

#

He's watching old Friends reruns and tries to think of a safety topic. Something safe to fall back on when she asks him what he needed to talk to her about, something that didn't involve traveling with him. When he can't think of anything, he figures that he should at least ask her what her plans are for the beginning of next month.

After all there are people out there paying sixty five thousand a night to stay in some glamorous suite when Annie hasn't even seen the beach.

#

He ignores that weird twinge of nervousness in his stomach because he knows there isn't any logical reason to worry about asking Annie to go to the beach, or at least that's what he's convincing himself of. He doesn't think about it because he's just going to ask her and if she wants to worry about what it would look like to their friends he won't stop her. She's bound to worry about something anyway.

He decides to approach it in a very nonchalant manner, and then tries to push all thoughts about his trip away as he thinks about whether or not he should to go to the gym. He's not sure if he actually wants to go because he has a lot on his mind, but he digs through his closet and finds some gym clothes, and a pair of tennis shoes. He packs a bag of some toiletries and a few water bottles and throws them in the car and chooses to go, despite his very compelling argument that fighting himself about taking Annie to California was basically a workout anyway.

#

Annie taps her phone to end her phone call as her smile fades. She rests her back on the door and glares at her phone.

"What's wrong?" A figure in green pajamas asks from the kitchen.

"Abed!" Annie almost drops her phone as she clutches her heart. "Abed! When did you get there?"

He shrugs, "Since you came out of your room." He knits his eyebrows together and cocks his head to the side, "Was that Jeff?" He asks pointing a finger at her.

Her eyes go wide as she looks down, "Yeah," she sighs. "About that."

"What happened?"

"Just- he invited me to go on a trip with him," he voice goes higher than she anticipates. She sinks down against the door to the ground despite the fact she's wearing dress pants.

"And you don't want to go?" He guesses as he sits down next to her.

"No, I do," her voice takes on a dreamy quality, "It's to the beach and I've never seen a beach, and neither has he. It's a really nice opportunity because where we'd be staying is really nice. I just don't think it's a good idea for me to go… with him," she falters.

"Because you think feelings will resurface."

"No," she says more irritated this time, partially because he's somewhat right. "I just- I see why he'd want to take me because I've never seen the ocean and what not. It just isn't a good idea."

"What did he say exactly?" He shoves his hand into a popcorn bowl that he seemingly produces out of thin air and offers the bowl to Annie.

"Thanks," she says taking a handful. "Well, his mom's husband invests in real estate and rents out these spectacular homes, like multimillion dollar mansions. And Jeff told me he needs to go up there and update the pictures they use to rent out this one particular home, so he asked me if I wanted to go with. I think he felt awkward about asking, I'm thinking he didn't want to seem like he was coming on to me… which would explain why he was being extremely apologetic," she mumbles.

"Apologetic how?"

She sighs and readjusts herself against the door, "He ended almost all of his sentences with 'sorry'. Like, 'Hey, sorry, you know how I'm going up to California, sorry, do you maybe want to go, sorry, I know you've never been so I figured I ask, sorry,'" she mocks him in a deep "man voice."

"He didn't want to seem too forward about it."

"Which means he didn't mean for this to be taken that way."

"Which means you could go because you don't have anything to worry about, romantically speaking that is. You both feel the same way about each other… Right?"

"Yeah, no of course. Totally platonic," she assures him, and tries to convince herself that that's all true. "How could you be so sure we don't have anything to worry about?"

Abed stuffs his face with popcorn and begins with his mouth full, "You had the biggest crush on Troy."

Her eyes go wide and she smacks his arm, "Abed!"

"What," he mumbles as he swallows, "you did."

"Okay, and what's your point."

"You lived with him and nothing happened. You both have walked in on each other naked. You once found his stash of condoms right in front of him and he's found…" Annie gives him a glare that says don't you dare say it, "…girl-toy-things," he finishes quickly and Annie slaps his arm again.

"He told you!" She gasps. She feels her blood rising to her cheek, and she just knows Abed can see her blushing.

"My point is," he started, ignoring her question completely, "that you've survived living with Troy. I think you can survive a vacation with Jeff."

He pauses for a moment to get another handful of popcorn and tosses it in his mouth, "What I'm saying is there might not be that much of a reason to worry."

"So you think I should go?"

"I think you should do what you want."

"I want to go," she whispers up to the ceiling more but more to herself than to him.

"Then go," he says wiping his mouth with the corner of his sleeve.

She shuts her eyes, and knocks her head against the wooden door again.

The beach was somewhere she always associated with colorful beach balls, popsicles and those summertime Bath and Body Works candles, and to her that's what summer was. It was hot sand and cold water, sugary cocktails and colorful swimsuits with big floppy hats. Just the thought of the beach sent her there. Being able to step out into the waters and have the wave's crash at her ankles, looking out and seeing a flat blue surface until the sky met the water, getting able to cross something off her list of places to see and…

"You're thinking about the beach aren't you?" It's less of a question and more of a statement.

"Get out of my brain, Abed."

#

She tells Jeff that she had to check with her boss to make sure she could get the time off. It isn't a lie, but what she really needed that time for was to convince herself to go or to convince herself not to go. Since talking with Abed she's thought about how excited she is to pack, and buy a new swimsuit, but she's also thought of the ways she could tell him she can't go.

She wakes up the next morning gets ready for work and pushes everything out of her mind. She gets to the police station and sits down behind the desk that she shares with her co-worker and sighs audibly.

"What's wrong?" Amber asks.

"Nothing," she says running her hand on the back of her neck. "I must have slept funny."

Amber nods and gets back to filing a pile of paperwork.

By one o'clock she's already switched her mind back and forth between going and not going several times. She feels stressed and panicky and makes a mess of the paperwork she's been trying to sort through. At some point while she's working she looks up at the calendar the police department has hanging on the wall. It's a year of beaches and this month it's a picture of some hammock overlooking a Mexican beach. She figures she could either go to see a real beach or she could have a calendar taunt her for the rest of the year.

So by two o'clock she's already spoken with her boss and is granted the time off.


	2. Chapter 2

Spoilers: Current  
>Disclaimer: I don't own Community.<p>

Author's Note:

Thanks to my wonderful friend Caitlin for the beta (Wandering Violinist). I dedicate all 6,758 words to her, thanks girl.

The title comes from Of Monsters and Men's song From Finner.

#

It's a bright, sunny Monday when Jeff and Annie embark upon their two day journey to Malibu, California. She spent the night before worrying about all the unlikely scenarios that could ruin everything between them. It's not like she's never thought... _those_ thoughts before; but she's just nervous because she's going to be with him nonstop for the next seven days.

She's trying to push her thoughts away until she's alone and feels somewhat safe. She'll think about all this some other time when they get to Malibu and when she has her own room so she can think safely. But for now he's driving down the highway with her in the passenger's seat.

Her eyes drift along the curves of the power lines as they slowly rise and then begin to fall again. She decides to count the transition towers until she forgets what she's thinking about.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

"Hey, when do you want to have lunch?"

Damnit, Jeff.

"Whenever is fine."

"Are you hungry?"

"A little, but you're the driver- you can pick when."

"I'm not hungry, I was just asking if you were..."

"Well... I can wait, you know- if you want."

It's awkward. Painful almost. Not to mention silent. Who drives in silence? Freaks of nature like Jeff Winger, that's who.

"So do you just hate music, or is the radio too mainstream for you?" She asks before she can really think.

It's this type of behavior that is going to get her into trouble.

"I'm not Britta," he scoffs. "The radio is different in different places, 95.7 doesn't work everywhere."

"Really, Jeff? 95.7? As in top forty? That's the music you listen to," she smiles smugly.

She can't tell if he's actually appalled or if he's trying to be funny. "What, no!"

"What do you listen to then?"

"My music," He blindly reaches for the glove box, which she opens for him. He fishes out an auxiliary cord and plugs it in. "Not that you would like it."

"Well who do you like, besides Dave," she smirks.

"That's Dave Matthews Band to you."

She rolls her eyes at him.

"Anyone else?"

"Tom Waits, I don't really know, Rob Thomas?" He offers as he mentally runs through the songs and artists on his iPod. "I guess I tend to like songs individually, I don't really focus on who sings it. I have some Maroon 5, but I wouldn't consider myself a big fan. Their older stuff, not like 'Payphone' or anything."

She shakes her head at his aimless mumbling.

He pulls out his iPod, connects it to the speaker than tosses it to Annie, "Pick."

"You pick," she tosses it back.

"I'm driving," he says flatly as he flings it in her lap.

She sighs as she struggles to find his music.

"Okay," she begins. "Beatles, I know them. Coldplay? Really?"

"What's wrong with Coldplay?" He defends.

"Nothing," she laughs, "That just surprises me, that's all."

She looks too see what Coldplay songs he has and is half amused and half disappointed when she sees only one song, "Oh, boo. It's just 'Clocks'."

He laughs in confusion, "Okay?"

"Dave Matthews Band as expected… David Bowie, The Eagles...?"

He sighs again.

"Hey! I know some of these," she defends as she scrolls down. "Rem? I don't think I know them."

"R.E.M.," He corrects shaking his head. "How do you know Barenaked Ladies and not R.E.M.?"

"Know it all."

"You know Annie, I've never actually thrown anyone out of a moving car before."

"Jeff!" She gasps with laughter at his empty threat. "Oh look, The Smiths," she cheers at a band she actually knows in hopes to redeem herself, "I like them."

She sees a familiar album cover and immediately recognizes it. "Aww, you have Train," she smiles.

"Holy crap just pick something," he demands so he doesn't have to listen to anymore of Annie's musical ignorance.

He's somewhat shocked when he begins to hear 'Get To Me' playing and not 'Hey Soul Sister' or something more popular.

"So... you like Train?"

#

They stop for lunch and gas. They're three hours away in some small town and starving. Jeff's pumping gas and she walks into the convenient store to stretch her legs. She takes one look at the disgusting floors, the dusty window fixtures, and the Slurpee machine that probably hasn't been cleaned in the past week and opts against using the bathroom here. Trying to not let her skin crawl, she pretends to be interested in some of the merchandise which consists of cheap sunglasses and magnets that have the Colorado flag in the shape of marijuana leaf. She rolls her eyes and steps out of the store discreetly in hopes that the guy at the cash register doesn't think she's stealing something.

She swiftly walks over to Jeff who's leaning on his car while on his phone. As much as she hates to admit it, he looks cool with his stupid sunglasses, leaning on his car in a stupidly cool way. He makes her think about all those thoughts of hers she been trying to push out of her mind.

Right, those thoughts.

"You know, you really shouldn't be on your phone while pumping gas."

He jumps a little at her seemingly sudden appearance next to him.

"I'm looking at places to eat."

She sighs in irritation and sits back in the car and closes her eyes, thinking about literally anything else-well at least she's trying to.

Her thought process is interrupted by Jeff getting into the car.

"Sandwiches okay?" He asks.

"Sure, how far out?"

"There is a Subway down the street," he looks behind him to back up and turn out of the gas station. "And it's either this or a Burger King."

"Well, we could go to Subway if we didn't tell the Dean," she smiles. "I don't want fast food."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to mess up all of this," he smiles haughtily as he points to his abs.

It's not like she can disagree, but she doesn't want to stroke his ego so she leaves him with, "Oh my God," as she rolls her eyes and heads for the passenger seat.

#

They sit down in a Subway within fifteen minutes. When she asks why they can't just eat in the car he responds with a laundry list of car rules, which shouldn't really shock her, but it does.

"I can't believe I've never gone over this with you before." She thinks he's pretending to be annoyed or maybe he really is. Either way she doesn't actually feel bad.

She rolls her eyes and contradicts herself with a smile. "Sorry," she innocently holds her hands up. She's filling up her drink with ice as he barks at her while he waits behind her to do the same. "So what are they? You pick the music, no BNL?" She leaves him to find a table.

Quickly coming back to her, he corrects her, "I have to approve of the music we listen to" he qualifies. "And BNL would not be something I would approve of which brings us to rule number two: No calling them BNL. Don't correct my driving, no eating, no feet on the dashboard, no dirty shoes."

"The second rule isn't really one of your rules is it?"

"It is now."

She takes a sip of her drink before unwrapping her sandwich, "Yeaaahh, I'm still going to call them BNL. Just for you," she smiles.

#

They're on the road by three and at the Colorado-Utah state line by four. She makes him pull onto the shoulder of the road to take pictures, and honestly, he isn't surprised. She gets out of his car and takes pictures of the signs and he leans back nonchalantly on the back of his car. He smiles to himself. He's not exactly ecstatic right now, but he's not upset at anything, he's just content. He sees her taking pictures with her phone, walking around, and he can tell that Annie is in her element. Her loose shirt is flowing with her hair in the wind, and she's just simply occupied by her surroundings, and it's almost surreal- that feeling of being content. And he smiles, for no other reason other than that he can.

"Jeff," she hollers.

He doesn't say anything, just shuffles over the bare minimum distance.

She cocks her head to the side with a smile and holds up her phone.

"Nope," he shakes his head and turns back for the car.

She sighs and tries to catch up to him, "Please Jeff. Just one picture, with me- or just you, I don't care."

"Why would I need a picture of me? Or... Why would you need one?"

"Um, because this would be the first time you went out of state," He can hear the duh-doy in her voice. "You never take any pictures and-"

He pivots around and holds his hand up, and she almost runs into him, "Annie, I'm a normal human being. I don't need to have a virtual scrapbook on my phone to survive, I don't need pictures to remember things."

She stops for a moment, "Is… is this because of what the group would say? Because I wasn't planning on uploading a California 2014 album to Facebook if that's your concern."

"Wh- no! Annie, all I'm saying is that I don't need a picture," he leans back against the car. "Besides, you're the one taking tons of pictures of the Welcome to Utah sign," he throws in with a smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"C'mon Annie, put the phone down," he reaches over and pulls her phone from her hand.

"I just might consider it if that advice wasn't coming from you," she retorts.

He makes a grand gesture to the landscape in front of them, "Take it in. Live a little, Edison," he says with a condescending sneer.

She hits his arm before snagging her phone, "Jerk."

#

"Six bedrooms!"

He raises his now watered down drink and points the straw at her, "Forty-two hundred square feet, too."

"Oh my- do you have any pictures?"

"No, that's kind the whole point of going up here. They just finished the house so they need pictures so they can lease it out to people."

"So it's already been furnished?"

"Yup."

She squeals in excitement and he winces, "God, Annie."

"How far is it to the beach?"

"There's a private beach," he says carefully knowing that she'll probably emit a high pitched sound.

He doesn't hear her say anything so he looks over to see an open mouth stare and it makes him chuckle.

#

"Mumford and Sons?"

"Yeah, Mumford and Sons, do you know them?"

He chuckles, "Who are you?"

"What?" she gasps.

"Florence and the Machine, Lana Del Rey? It's like Britta hijacked your iTunes library."

"So," she shrugs, "We have some similar tastes in music."

"I find it hard to believe that Britta likes 1960's Jazz music."

"I said _some_ similar tastes in music," she rolls her eyes. "My mom listened to a lot of Jazz music so that's why…"

"No, I like it, it's different," he finishes lamely. "Britta on the other hand goes out of her way to find music that isn't popular or well-liked and listens to that. Then, you know, bitches about when the radio starts playing it."

"Jeff!" She scolds with a laugh.

"You know it's true."

She sighs and goes back to her music library, "Do you know Of Monsters and Men? And 'Little Talks' does not count."

"You _are_ Britta."

#

Turns out Jeff wasn't missing much by staying in Colorado because Utah is pretty much the same thing. The highway is long and narrow and vanishes behind an upcoming hill far in the horizon. It looks like the same scenery he's been looking at for hours. The only difference is that this place has a different name and he feels somewhat accomplished that he's somewhere new.

It's a poetic thought, so he pushes it out of his mind almost instantly.

#

"Middle names are stupid, Annie."

"That doesn't change the fact that you have one. What is it?"

"I'm not going to saying it."

She scoffs and rolls her eyes, "Whatever, I'll tell you mine. It's probably the most generic middle name ever."

"Lynn?"

She shakes her head.

"Ann?"

"Annie Ann?"

"Okay so it's not Ann."

"Jeff, it starts with an 'E'."

"Emily?" He guesses.

"No!"

"Elizabeth?"

"Finally!"

"Annie Elizabeth Edison," he mumbles quietly to himself; testing the words in his mouth.

She takes an awkward, audible breath between her teeth, "Yup, that's my name." She forced a small laugh, "I've always hated it."

"Why? It's fine."

"It's so generic," she corrects.

"Really?"

"Britta Elizabeth Perry, Vicky Elizabeth Jenkins," she spits out a few examples. "I'd rather have some gross middle name that no one has than have one that is _so original_."

"It could be worse. Your middle name could be Tobias."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah..."

"I'm sorry."

#

"What the hell is this?"

"Foster the People! You know, 'Pumped Up Kicks'?"

He shakes his head in disapproval.

"What? They're good!"

"Get it off."

She huffs, "Britta showed them to me."

"You're really going to take music advice from the person who has the American Horror Story soundtrack on her phone?"

Annie shrugs and changes the artist to the Jeff approved Mumford and Sons, "That show is so weird, she tried to get me to watch it with her."

"Does Abed watch it? It's on my Netflix queue."

"No Britta watches it," she immediately slaps her hand over her mouth once she realizes the information she just gave him.

"Wait, does Britta-" He looks at Annie and sees her wide eyes as a dead giveaway.

"Who all does have my Netflix password?"

#

"What's the dinner plan?"

"Next city I drive by."

She pulls out her phone and checks the time and location, "Twenty five minutes until the next somewhat populated area."

"What's around?"

"Not a whole lot of fast food-"

"Good."

"A ton of diners though."

"Mmhm, small town diners, so healthy."

"Oh shut up, you're so pretentious."

He points to his whole body, "Do you think that all of this just maintains itself?" He asks with a smirk.

"I think your ego does some of the work for you."

"Annie!" He gasps like he's been offended. "What are you implying?"

"Live a little, Winger," she steals his words from earlier.

"You're ridiculous."

He gives in to one of the eighty diners (probably eighty, more or less), because of the ratings on Yelp that Annie was reading out loud. Once they walk in it's the most cliché dinner "from the fifties" that he's ever seen. Checker board floor, a jukebox in the corner, red cracked vinyl seats in booths and of course a neon clock on the wall. Annie cheers at the cheesy interior and calls it adorable as he rolls his eyes at the overly elaborate decor.

He orders some special hamburger of the day without cheese, and she orders a number one, whatever that is.

"Why do you care what you look like?" she asks while sipping on her water.

"Because I like being healthy."

"I don't buy it."

"Okay then."

"No I didn't mean to sound mean, I just- you're fine, you don't have anything to worry about."

"Thanks?"

"It was a complement."

He nods and takes a small french fry. "It's not a sickness, you know."

Or an actual problem.

"That's not healthy though," she offers tentatively.

"Well neither is staying up to three AM to finish a paper."

She gives a small laugh, "Touché."

#

By eight they're back on the road.

The first fifteen minutes is spent arguing over who gets to play their music. Eventually Jeff wins with the argument that he is carting her around cross country and "this is my thanks?"

They listen to more Dave Matthews Band and by the time they hit Arizona Annie has her favorites and Jeff feels proud for having her say she'll download a few songs.

They laugh and bicker about stupid things on TV and movies.

"Are you doing anything this summer?" She asks.

"I'm starting a new course for summer school in two weeks."

"Two weeks!" She scolds him, "Do you have anything prepared?"

"Yes, Annie, breathe."

"What are you teaching?"

He sighs, "History."

"Do you know anything about history?"

"Yeah, I actually thought about majoring in it when I got to college but I never actually... yeah."

"So professor Winger is teaching history," she nods her head in approval.

"Yeah, American history in the twentieth century."

"Wow, that's really awesome Jeff," she smiles to herself. "I'm really proud. I just think that teaching is, I don't know- so you."

"You do?"

"Yeah, my friend Blake told me he loved you class... You called him ski cap."

"Right, I remember him," he can't help but smile like a proud moron. "So why'd he like it?" He can't help but wonder; he wasn't exactly teacher of the year.

She shrugs, "You'd have to ask him."

"Hmm, that's... surprising."

"Well, I can tell you like teaching. No matter what you say I know you enjoy it."

He laughs, "I'm afraid I've found something I don't hate doing."

"And it'll be a subject you're passionate about."

"I'm not sure passionate is the right word, I tolerate history."

She smiles brightly ignoring his negativity, "I'm so happy for you."

"I'm happy too."

He expects her say something but she just stays silent so he just says the first thing that comes to mind.

"How is your job?"

She sighs, "Honestly, I can't complain. Reception work is hard but enjoyable. I'm just glad I found something to spend my time doing and that I'm out of pharmaceuticals… it didn't feel right."

"What about school?"

"Not much longer at Greendale then I'm transferring to Montagne College... I hope."

"Montagne?" He's surprised, even though he shouldn't be.

"If I can get in, their criminal justice program is top notch."

"How far is that?"

"Like twenty minutes away from downtown Greendale."

"It's that close?"

"Yup, that makes it my number one choice."

"What about number two through forty?" he sneers which earns him a slap on the arm from him.

"Sam Houston State University," she begins, "That's Texas. Or University of Tennessee and that's all I have, thanks."

"So, out of state?"

"Yeah, the best part is that my brother is moving up to Texas soon, so if I went there I wouldn't be alone."

"And Tennessee?"

"I would be terrified but I could do it."

"You'd be alone?"

"Yeah."

"You're mom or dad wouldn't help you?"

"Mom no, dad maybe. But I don't exactly want their help, besides there is so much money to be given out for scholarships. I actually have thirty thousand for any Colorado college plus all the money I haven't been using to pay rent," she sighs.

"Well I hope Montagne works out."

"If not I'm going to apply for financial aid in other states too, but honestly at this point I'm just happy to have found something I want to do".

She looks over to see him concentrating on the road. "We both found something we want to do," he mutters.

"Ohh, so you _do_ want to teach."

He makes a "meh" sound and sighs. "It's not a bad way to pass the time."

She rolls her eyes and rests her head on the window. "We lucked out didn't we," her eyes meet his and she smiles back at him.

"We really did."

#

It's nine thirty when Annie feels drowsy and rests her eyes. She knows she won't get much sleep because she could never sleep for very long in cars, so she settles for closing her eyes. Typically she would feel bad for sleeping especially because Jeff had been driving for the whole day but she stops feeling sorry for him because he turned down all her offers to drive because "only Jeff is allowed to drive."

She feels his eyes on her but she's too relaxed to open hers, or care. She smiles slightly and tilts her head to the window and slowly drifts off.

#

"Annie," he whispers. "Annie, we're at the hotel." He gently shakes her awake.

She groans and yawns, "How long was I asleep?"

"A few hours."

She slowly opens her eyes, careful to not let the car light burn her eyes.

"I'm going to check in."

"Wait- Jeff where are we?"

"A Quality Inn in Overton."

"Nevada?"

"Yes."

She nods her head.

"Are you awake or are you going to fall back asleep?"

"No, I'm up, I'm up," she says as she unbuckles her seatbelt.

"Okay, get what you need out of your suitcase, I'm going to get a room."

"Alright," she groans as she stretches to get out of the car.

She gets what she needs out of the back of his car and runs into the hotel from the creepy parking lot. Jeff is sitting in some chair on his phone and as soon as he sees Annie he locks his car and gets up and shows her to the room.

"You can shower first," he offers.

It takes a moment before she can really hear and understand him. "Thanks," she mumbles.

He wants to fall back and go to bed, but he needs to shower and he's been sitting all day, so he opts against it and decides to stand.

He hears the water shuts off and he still doesn't move his eyes from the invisible spot he's been staring at for the past ten minutes. Moments later she appears in the doorframe, clad in a Greendale shirt and sweats, he sees her in his peripheral vision but doesn't do anything about it.

"Jeff?"

"Yeah?" His head snaps over to her.

"Are you-?"

"Tired? Yes."

She snickers as she wraps her hair in a towel. Without another word he grabs his clothes to change into and his toiletries and heads to the warm humid bathroom where Annie left the smell of girly peachy soap in her wake. His stomach gets this fluttery feeling and-

Nope, he's not going to go there.

Not now.

Or anytime in the foreseeable future.

He walks out of the bathroom with clear thoughts thanks to his shower. He goes about his nightly routine as if he was alone back in Greendale as a way to prolong walking out and sleeping in the bed next to Annie's bed.

At least it's a room with two beds.

But that doesn't mean this situation is ideal though.

Thankfully he walks out and sees Annie curled on her side with her lashes fanned on her cheek. He walks to turn the lamp out and he pretends he didn't just smile at her sleeping peacefully and falls back into his bed.

"G'night Annie," he hardly mumbles.

"Night," he hears a faint murmur from the other bed and ignores that little twinge in his stomach.

#

He hears is incoherent giggling and feels pulling on the left side of his body.

"Get uuuup!"

He groans and squints his eyes to see a shadowy figure that looks a whole lot like Annie tugging at his sheets.

"I have breakfast!"

"Ughhhh," he groans into a pillow. He blindly reaches his hand out to push her away but misses her completely. She dodges his hand and giggles before slapping his hand down.

"Ugh! You're so lazy, come on!"

Eventually he rolls over and stretches to wake up and reaches for his phone on the night stand to check the time.

"It's eight," he says flatly.

She's folding her clothes from yesterday and doesn't even turn her head to give him a second glance, "And..."

"And let me sleep," he presses his head back in the pillow.

"Here eat," she gives him a plate filled with the foods of a typical hotel breakfast, fruit, eggs, toast, waffles and sausage. "And if you whine about the caloric value of these food I will pour this maple syrup down your back."

"Well good morning to you too."

She flashes a smile and goes back to packing up her things.

She's dressed ready for the day wearing a pair of cut off shorts and a white summery blouse, with her sunglasses on her head like she's ready to go.

"Have you eaten?" He asks while popping a piece of pineapple in his mouth.

"I got myself a plate," she points to the plate sitting on the desk across from his bed.

"Eat, pack later. You know we do have all day right?"

"Yeah, but we need to go grocery shopping once we get there and it's like six, seven hours?"

"About seven, but I'm the driver so if I saw we leave in an hour we leave in an hour," he chuckles.

She groans and sits at the desk to eat her breakfast. She toes the floor as she maneuvers around in the roll-y chair and peels her banana.

"What time did you wake up?"

She shrugs, "About an hour ago."

He winces like her statement physically hurt him, "Why?"

"Couldn't fall back asleep. What time did you go to bed?"

"One? One thirty? When I got out of the shower you were out," he chuckles.

"I was tired!"

"So are you used to not sleeping in or-?"

"Well, I get up at seven to go to work, but when I try to sleep in I can't. Plus Abed only sleeps about five hours a night so he's up making noise before the sun," she rolls her eyes.

"Fun."

"Very," she agrees as she picks at her waffle with her fork.

They fill the next twenty minutes with random small talk and TV surfing until Annie deems it necessary to get up and start moving around again, and it isn't until eight fifty when Jeff finally moves from his bed.

True to his word they are on the road at nine, but he insists on stopping for coffee because he didn't get enough of his "beauty sleep".

#

Nevada for the most part is boring. Just a bunch of long, straight roads with desert surroundings, so there isn't a whole lot to play I Spy with. So Annie just plugs her phone in for music without much protest from Jeff and they pretty much enjoy the peace.

There's this feeling that Annie can't quite name but it's from being able to look out and see a straight road becoming more and narrower as it goes on. Maybe it's from the sun shining, or the fact that California is somewhere on the end of the road and Greendale is somewhere in the rearview mirror. The fast and upbeat music accompanies them as he drives seventy miles per hour down the highway while the sun shines through a cloudless sky. And for the first time in a while she feels carless with her sunglasses on and her hair down and there is something about that that makes her feel invincible.

It's her inner wanderlust bursting at the seams.

#

"Oh my god Jeff, that's nothing!"

"What, like you have a better story?!"

"Yeah, once there was this guy outside my building and he got stabbed so I applied a tourniquet and drove him to the hospital."

His eyes grow wide, "What the hell, I'm just now hearing about this?"

She shrugs, "I figured everyone would just panic."

He nods furiously, "Um, yeah, we would."

"Whatever, it's a better story than calling the cops on a hit-and-run accident."

"They caught the guy! And he didn't have insurance..."

"So that's your big heroic story?"

"I'm sorry I didn't know this was the hero olympics." He retorts lamely.

"You're just mad because my story is better," she beams petulantly.

"There's irony here."

#

They cross into California around eleven thirty and he doesn't even have to look at her to know that she wants him to stop the car and take pictures. Against his will he pulls over and she practically runs over to the sign that says "Welcome to California". He gets out of the car and the wind is relatively stronger than he expected but not entirely unwelcome. He leans on the back of his car door and lets the sun soak into his skin as he snickers at Annie taking a ridiculous amount of pictures.

And this time he allows the floodgate that holds all of his poetic thoughts to open.

#

"So I guess him and Rachel are pretty serious?"

"I guess. There have been a lot of girls that he 'talks to' but this is the first time that he's really had an actual girlfriend."

"Do you think she'll be around for a while?"

She sighs, "I hope so- she really understands Abed."

"You don't think she's just filling a void Troy left behind do you?"

"At first I did," she admits. "Then I realized how alike they were and how much they liked each other." Jeff eyes her and shows a sliver of a smile. "What's that face for?"

"I'm not making a face!"

"Yes you are! You're smiling!" she laughs.

"I'm just happy for him that's all."

"Aww."

"Oh hush."

#

"I can't believe you offered to eat fast food," she smiles.

"Annie," he sighs as he kills the engine. "I asked if you wanted to try In-and-Out Burger, you said yes and now we're here."

"I know what you're doing," she smiles condescendingly.

"Getting made fun of for going where you want to eat?"

"No, asking me where I want to eat knowing I'd agree to anywhere and then suggesting where you want to go and making it seem like it was my idea."

"Oh my God," he rolls his eyes and gets out of the car. It's not as hot as he was expecting but it certainly isn't pleasant so he strides for the restaurant.

She laughs at his indirect surrender and opens the car door. "Admit it, you secretly love fast food but you cover it up with your protein shakes and sit ups."

He's already halfway across the parking lot and Annie's trying to catch up. "Come on Jeff, don't be like that!"

He chuckles to himself and abruptly turns around, stopping her in her tracks. "Annie!" He holds his hand up. "First of all, In-and-Out burger is something that will never be in Greendale. Second, protein shakes? I'm not some dumb frat boy with a backwards baseball cap. And third, don't think you have me all figured out. I'm full of surprises."

"Surrrree."

The cool burst of air feels good and welcoming against the harsh heat of California's weather. The place is filled with tourists like them. There's a family of four with a whiney seven or eight year old boy, a couple that's probably newly married, and a family with three teenagers that are all on their phones. They order and Annie offers to pay because "you got dinner and the hotel room and it's the least I can do," and he accepts without an argument and goes to find a booth to sit in.

They both get their hamburgers with fries and a strawberry shake to split.

"Is this everything you dreamed of?"

"More," he retorts with a forced smile.

"You," she begins pointing a french fry at him, "are so full of it."

He snatches the fry from her hand and tosses it in his mouth. "Surprises," he corrects, "I'm full of surprises."

#

They stop for gas and they're back on the road with only a few more hours to go.

The road so far isn't much more interesting to look at- but at least it isn't Nevada. It's less flat, more hilly, but still dry and hot and not very appealing; so other than talking to Jeff, there isn't a whole lot to do.

It's not like she's complaining, it's just they've been together for more than twenty-four hours now so they're starting to run out of conversation topics that aren't the weather or the price of gas.

She doesn't actually mean to fall asleep but she shuts her eyes and all the sounds of the car gently fade as she dozes.

#

"Where are we?"

"About an hour and a half away."

"Sorry, I fell asleep."

"Don't be," he shrugs as he turns the music up now that she's awake. "Are you up for grocery shopping tonight?"

"What'd you say… an hour and a half away?" She mumbles checking her phone for the time.

"We'd be getting there around six-ish."

"Yeah, let's do it tonight- just go ahead and get it knocked out," she sighs and closes her eyes.

"Are you going back to sleep?"

She sighs and relaxes into her seat, "No, I'm just resting my eyes."

He chuckles, "Okay.

#

"How much do you want for groceries?" Annie says pulling out her wallet from her purse at the checkout line.

He stops her, "I'll put it on my card then we'll look at the receipt when we get to the house."

She ignores him and continues to dig through her purse, "Is eighty enough?"

He starts to load the conveyer belt with food, "Annie, aren't you the one here who is struggling to pay rent?" He remarks.

"The only other funds I've contributed to this trip was buying lunch!"

"You know, I would need to eat regardless of you coming up here-"

He's cut off by Annie opening his hand and giving him four twenties.

He gives her an over-exaggerated sigh and two of her twenties back.

"We're even," he mumbles folding up the money and handing the lady his credit card.

#

They spend about thirty minutes driving from the grocery store in Santa Monica to the house in Malibu. It's the first time either of them have seen the ocean and Annie can't bring herself to look out her window on the right side even though the sun is beginning to shine right into her eyes. On Jeff's side lies the jagged coast line, and the waves crashing into the stranded boulders in the ocean. Between the greens in the vegetation, the blues, purples, pinks, and oranges in the sky, and the blues in the ocean with the glittering reflection of the sun, she just knows that she was made to see the beach.

She sinks into her seat and sighs contently. The windows are down and Jeff's music is playing as they drive down the winding Pacific Coast highway.

Everyone may say California is overrated, but this is perhaps the most beautiful landscape she's ever been in.

#

Before they even pull up to the house Jeff knows he's going to be impressed. The surrounding homes in the neighborhood are all of Italian or Mediterranean styled architecture- basically mini mansions.

"Okay the address is forty-seven." He reads off the GPS on his phone while he drives down the street. "Ah- here it is."

He pulls up into the drive way and looks over at Annie, who's quietly sitting slack jawed with her legs crossed and her hands in her lap.

The house on the other end of the driveway was a three story stone house with wood garage doors and arched windows and the beach as the backyard. Slowly and silently, he drives up and parks the car.

"It's so amazing."

He nods, "It is."

"I thought houses like this only existed in House Hunters."

He chuckles, "Right?"

She slowly unbuckles her seatbelt and steps out of the car without blinking, like she was afraid she would wake herself from an amazing dream she was having. He follows suit and refuses to take his eyes off the house.

"I can't believe we're really in California!" She squeals and jumps around.

He chuckles at her energy but any words that come to him instantly fail him; besides the moment is too perfect for them anyway. It was just him, Annie, this incredible house and six days in front of them to spend together.

#

She feels like a small child exploring like she was playing hide and go seek. She abandons her suitcase in the garage and runs throughout the house. She counts six bedrooms and lost count of the bathrooms midway through her travels around the house. There's a media room, a huge kitchen, a dining room with a huge table that could seat ten, maybe twelve? She doesn't care all that much once she sees the view from the living room. It's a wall covered in windows showcasing miles and miles of the shimmering Pacific Ocean with a pink, orange and purple sky above. She stops in her tracks and slowly approaches the windows, her hand drags over the stone wall, feeling the ridged bumps, and she knows it's not a dream.

Jeff is in the far back of the kitchen with his back resting on the edge of the granite countertops. He's amazed by the spectacular view, but more so amused by Annie's enthusiasm.

"Well?" He interrupts the silence.

She tears her eyes off the view to turn to face him. "Amazing doesn't even begin to cover it."

He nods and approaches her as slowly as she walks toward the wall of windows.

They admire their surroundings in silence until he softly interrupts it one last time, "I'm so glad we're here."

#

They claim rooms.

Annie leaves Jeff with the master bedroom and she takes the room next door to his with a conjoining balcony.

He falls on the bed with a sore back and a huge sigh. The furnishings around him remind him so much of his mother, it's almost surreal. He knows there's a ninety-nine percent chance that his mom decorated the place, judging by the rich, warm colors mixed with the Italian style of the house and the furnishings. It's home to him simply because it reminds him of his home growing up. Of course it wasn't this glamorous and lavish, but it's the home he knew his mother always wanted and the thought of her picking out fabric swatches and buying furniture that wasn't from Ikea made him happy. His mother was finally doing something that she wanted to do and that's what made him smile.

"Relaxing?" Annie's voice woke him from his trance.

"Yeah," he says with a grunt as he pulls himself up to a sitting position. "You would be too if you drove for two days."

"Hey!" She pulls herself from her pose on the doorframe. "I offered dozens of times, but 'only Jeff Winger drives his car' so you can't talk mister."

"Whatever, it doesn't change the fact that I'm tired."

She saunters into his room to the edge of his bed, "Do you mind?"

He pats his bed before he falls back on the pillows and the bed shifts beneath his back as she sits on the plush mattress.

"What do you want for dinner?" she asks staring at the view of the ocean from three stories up.

"Food."

"You're no help."

"I don't know, what do we have?"

"Seriously, we just bought groceries an hour ago."

"I'm too busy relaxing to hear you nagging me."

She rolls her eyes, "Okay, we've got spaghetti, chicken, sandwiches, frozen pizza... um?"

"The first one."

"Spaghetti?"

"Sure."

"Alright," she eases off the bed. "Help me put away groceries."

"Ugh, you're the worst."

#

It's ten by the time she gets out of the shower. She wraps a towel around her body and goes about her nightly routine in the larger than life bathroom. It's empty but humid and warm and smells of the soap she uses and she's in paradise. The beach obviously is great but this bathroom is every girls dream... seriously. The Jacuzzi tub is big enough for two people and she's very tempted to put it to use at some point.

Almost as soon as she pictures a nice warm bubble bath she regrets it because amongst imagining the smell of lavender bubbles, and flickering candles, she isn't alone.

She shakes that ridiculous thought out of her mind and runs a comb through her hair.

Everything is fine. That's what, the first somewhat romantic thought she's had in the past how many days? And it wasn't even on purpose; it just jumped into her mind- so it's totally unfair to count that. Right?

See, she's perfectly capable of not screwing this up.


	3. Chapter 3

Spoilers: Current  
>Disclaimer: I don't own Community.<p>

Author's Note:

Thanks to my wonderful friend Caitlin for the beta (Wandering Violinist).

The title comes from Of Monsters and Men's song From Finner.

#

It's seven thirty when Annie wakes up. Like most times when she wakes up in a new place, she forgets she's not at home and panics for a moment until she remembers the details. Her back arches against the bed as she yawns and stretches. She turns her head to face the window and she smiles at the scenery.

Beyond the bumps of the pillows and comforter and through the glass doors, she sees the ocean glittering as the sun touches its surface and the waves gracefully crash on the beach. It reminds her of the pool at her father's apartment complex. Of course the pool wasn't as big and beautiful as the one Mother Nature had so kindly provided for her, but it reminds her of the water that her younger self would cannonball into. She would hold her breath and go underwater to lie down at the bottom of the pool for as long as she could, and she'd see the water moving above her and the refracted rays of light shining into the pool. She would lift her arm up and push it though the water, as if she was trying to hold a ray of sun. As she got older all the teenage girls didn't want to get their hair wet or ruin their makeup, but she never cared. Even at sixteen she would cannonball into the pool and the cold water would run between the hairs on her head just like it had before.

And even now, years later, she still has this love for swimming and summer.

She flips the covers off of her body and slides off the bed then walks over to the sliding glass door. A breeze greets her when she gently opens the door and she can hear the faint sounds of the waves. She steps barefoot onto the balcony and she tiptoes over to a chair, careful not to wake up Jeff; whose room was next to hers, connected by the balcony. The chair cushions she sits on radiate warmth though her tee shirt and she closes her eyes and lets the sounds of the beach relax her.

#

Jeff walks downstairs to find Annie humming and tapping her foot on the hard wood floors as she cracks eggs into a bowl. He rubs his eyes and yawns, which gets her attention.

"Morning," she says without looking up from the bowl of whatever she was making.

He just nods at her with a grunt, and she chuckles to herself as she tosses an eggshell into the trash.

Without looking up she points to a steaming blue mug sitting on the counter, "I made coffee."

"Thanks." He reaches over for the mug and lets the warmth wake him up.

He rests against the edge of the counter and watches Annie as she manages to stir whatever is in the bowl.

"Are pancakes alright?"

"Yeah, that's fine," he says more awake this time. He takes a sip of his coffee and swallows slowly to let the heat of the liquid warm him up.

She smiles at him and then continues to go about making breakfast. She's practically bouncing around from mixing the pancakes, to getting plates out, to chopping up fruit, to sipping her own coffee, and it makes him chuckle into his mug as he goes in for another sip.

"You're not a morning person are you?"

"Nope," he mumbles still staring at his black coffee.

She laughs with a nod, "Well whenever you 'wake up' you can help me."

He hops up on the counter and rests his head on one of the cupboards. "Got it."

He watches her as she continues to bustle around the kitchen as the smell of pancakes permeates the room, and by the time he's three quarters of the way through his coffee he feels awake enough to hold a conversation.

She reaches up into the cupboard for something and her oversized shirt rises up to the bottom of her sleep shorts.

"Football fan?"

She turns around from flipping pancakes and he nods to her shirt.

It's about two-sizes-too-big and on the front it says _Property of The Denver Broncos._

"Oh," she chuckles and turns back to the stove. "It's actually not even mine," Jeff tilts his head in confusion. "Troy left it behind."

He grips his mug a little tighter, "Oh," his voice chock full of fake enthusiasm. For no reason at all is this, a big deal. Although it's not hard to remember Annie during their first year at Greendale with her massive crush on Troy, now she's wearing his shirt like it's no big deal. His fingers relax off of his coffee mug a little and he continues, "Well they just became a lot less relevant after the Super Bowl."

He eyes Annie out of his coffee mug to see if she had picked up on any of his innate jealously, but she just looks caught up in a sports related fog.

"Never mind."

He hops off the counter and grabs the plate of pancakes and carries them to the dinning room; leaving his surge of jealousy in the kitchen.

They carry everything over to the huge wooden table and sit next to each other at the corner leaving plenty of space in front of them. The small talk is kept to a minimum as the sounds of silverware scraping plates and chewing fill the silence.

Jeff waits a little bit longer for Annie to finish up her food then helps her clear the table. They finish putting their dirty dishes in the dishwasher and decide that before they mess up the house any more they should probably go ahead and take the pictures for his mother.

He gets his mother on the phone and she tells them what to include. Annie's got the phone because after the first sentence of the _'Why haven't I seen you in so long' _guilt trip, he decided that he was pretty much done talking to his mother for the day. So Annie is directing Jeff based off of what his mom wants and Jeff is grudgingly complying to take ten pictures of the same damn room.

They go outside to take a picture of the patio, and while Jeff goes down to get photos of the house from the beach Annie and his mom strike up a conversation about some great local places to eat in California.

He knows his mom, so he knows she won't say anything too embarrassing about him to Annie, but he still holds his breath as he tries to listen in to one side of the conversation.

"She's nice," she smiles as she slides the glass door open to go inside.

He shrugs, "She likes to talk."

"Well," she hands him his phone, "There's no harm in that."

"She likes you, I can tell." He pretends to be interested in a picture he took of the dining room- although he shouldn't feel uncomfortable. It's not like they're togeth- whatever.

"Good," she bounces as a perky smile adorns her lips.

He puts the camera away and glances out at the ocean and Annie's eyes follow his gaze out the window as she waits for him to say something.

"So do you want to—" She motions her head in the direction of the beach.

"Huh?" He shakes his head; snapping out of his own head. "Uh, yeah sure."

They go to their respective rooms to change. Once she finishes tying the string of her bikini at the back of her neck she takes a step back to look at her whole body in the bathroom mirror. Usually she wasn't _that_ critical of her body, but knowing that she was going to spend most of her day half naked with Jeff made not being critical kind of hard.

Her swimsuit is a rich, bright, turquoise bandeau top with matching bikini bottoms. It's not the most modest swimsuit but it certainly gave her a lift, not that she needed one. She lies to herself, saying that Jeff won't look at her that way, but who is she kidding. She takes her hair down and he gets all flustered and speechless. But she's an adult who _apparently_ isn't bad to look at, he's an adult who really isn't bad to look at, and they can handle being in swimwear around each other. They're not twelve.

Refusing to give herself another second to think, she throws on her cover up, grabs her towel, and slides on some flip-flops. She calls herself ready and practically skips down the hallway in excitement for the beach.

#

Under his feet the hot sand becomes cooler and wet as he approaches the ocean. A gust of a cool sea breeze blows into him and it cools him down as the sun shines and touches his skin. He reaches where the tide meets the sand and looks down as the water as it creeps up on his feet.

He looks out at the seemingly infinite ocean beyond the sand, and he feels so small and helpless and suddenly he's really fucking terrified.

He's so far in his own world that he doesn't realize Annie is far behind him calling his name.

"Jeff!" She hollers.

He turns around to see her running towards him with her red cover up blowing back and the bag on her shoulder weighing her down.

"Annie, the ocean isn't going anywhere."

She slows down to a walk and approaches him out of breath.

"I know," she pants.

He looks down at her and laughs before looking back out to the ocean. She disappears and walks back a few feet to set her towel and her bag down.

"What do we do now?" She asks.

Jeff shrugs, "Whatever we want." He tears his eyes off of the ocean landscape and gives her a flickering smile. Her eyes are fixed on the ocean and as she walks forward into the water.

The waves crash at her ankles and she walks along the coastline. He stands motionless as he watches her walk away until she waves him over to walk with her.

It's awkward. The only noises are the birds, and the waves crashing out in the distance. He looks over at her and she's looking down watching her feet walk in the water with a smile fixed on her face. It makes him chuckle to see her so happy by something that seems to be so simple.

She sighs before looking up from the water. "This is nice," she briefly smiles up at him.

He nods to himself and kicks a small incoming wave.

"What do you want to do?" She asks.

He gives her an over exaggerated thinking face and sighs, "I kinda want to push you into the water."

"Too bad you won't."

"Why won't I?"

"Because I'll make your life a living hell if you do."

"A living hell" he mouths silently as he tries not to laugh. And before he gives his actions much thought he grabs her shoulders and pushes her to the water.

She shrieks as she stumbles a bit before catching herself. Laughing, she stands back up with the bottom of her cover up all wet and charges at him. He darts away before she can get to him, but what's she going to do? Pick him up and throw him in the ocean? Yeah, _right_.

She runs after him until they reach where their things are on the beach. Jeff gets there first and when Annie comes up to him she slaps his arm and mumbles, "Jerk."

"Is that the living hell you warned me about?" He asks pointing to where she hit him.

Her eyes instinctively roll at his sarcasm as she turns around and hesitates a moment before taking off her red cover up. She wasn't sure of the best way to do this, but before she could hesitate any longer, she pulls it over her head leaving her in her bright turquoise swimsuit. As she throws the cover up by her bag she notices him looking at her, so she smiles at him and his eyes go wide and he looks away. She walks toward the ocean eagerly, with the intent of hiding her body in the comfort of the water.

It was strange to look out and see nothing but water. Never in her life did she think she would feel how she did now, more than content, she's elated, accomplished, satisfied, excited, and even a little bit nostalgic for memories she has yet to make.

She feels the heat of the sun and the coolness of the water and the breeze as it seems to blow right through her, as if she weighted nothing. Slowly, she takes another step in the water, then another, and another, and before she knows it she's waist deep in this never ending body of water.

She hears a splash and turns around to see Jeff stepping out towards her.

"How's the water?" He yells.

"Great," she turns around and shrieks as a cool wave crashes against her back.

She takes another step backwards into the water to where the water is covering her chest and then slowly lifted her feet off the ground and let the ocean carry her in the direction it chooses. Her body moves up and down with the waves and she feels her whole body rocking with it. Amongst the splashing sounds of the waves she hears Jeff swimming closer.

She has a moment of sheer panic when she goes to rest her feet on the sand, and she finds she can't. He's up to his shoulders in the water, still standing and chuckling at her attempt to stay afloat.

Her toes finally scrape the sand and she struggles to swim forward to Jeff. The last thing she sees before the waves turn her back against him is Jeff rolling his eyes and lunging forward, pulling her to him. His hands move though the water to her waist and it sends this zip down her spine as his warm hands pull her against his.

"What are you like five foot?"

From behind, she splashes water in his direction missing him completely.

He turns her around in his arms and reaches down to lift her up from underneath her knees. They freeze for a moment, not sure what they just got themselves into. It takes a few seconds, but she finally relaxes into his arms as she feels his thumb brushing against her waist underneath the water.

She giggles nervously as a small wave passes by them.

"I'm not that pathetic you know," she mumbles wrapping both her arms around his neck for support. "I can swim."

"I know," he smiles. "Well I _could _throw you in."

She shakes her head vigorously and he chuckles as he starts to walk to where the water is at her chest. They don't really say anything, just letting the sounds of the waves fill their silence until Jeff interrupts it.

"Wanna race?"

They share a competitive smirk before swimming back to shore.

#

She decides to sit on the damp sand with a book. Every time the water creeps up her legs she loses her place in her book and she watches as the water rises and falls over her legs multiple times. She sticks one hand in the water as the tide rises up and watches how the water splashes against her toes.

"You're reading?" His voice from behind her interrupts her.

"You're tanning," she retorts as she snaps her book closed.

"So?"

"So," she voice strains as she stands up, "leave me alone." She uses the incoming wave to kick some water over in his direction.

"Gahhhh!" He sits up at the sudden shock of the cool water.

She smirks as she walks past him.

"I'm going to get started on lunch," she calls.

He mumbles an "okay," as she watches him adjust his towel and go back to lying down.

She throws her now dry cover up on and as soon as she starts on making sandwiches he walks in. He offers help but she declines so he just leans on the counter keeping her company, as their conversation goes pretty much nowhere notable. He forgot how easy being around Annie is. There are no empty silences, just aimless discussions, and lingering smiles that sometimes throw things off kilter.

They both eat standing up and between bites, plan the rest of their day. Not that there is a whole lot to plan anyway. They decide on spending the rest of the day at the house and that they'll eat dinner when they both get hungry.

He takes care of the dishes for her while she zones out at the sea beyond the window.

Somehow it doesn't feel real- being here. First there is the beach, which is amazing in itself, but then there is her company. To her, it truly does feel that she was walking into Greendale less than a year ago meeting this intimidating Spanish tutor, who turned out to be an ex-lawyer with a golden tongue. And now she has him doing her dishes.

She looks back at Jeff who is too busy cleaning to notice her. He grabs a plate to rinse off before throwing it in the dishwasher and holds it at the wrong angle and water splashes all over him and she chuckles softly and shakes her head as she watches.

Sometimes it's hard to believe that this man (who is now struggling to wash a plate) was the same person who thought he was the coolest man alive five years ago. He was such an ass then, well, he still is today but at least he's a loveable, caring ass who isn't as cocky. Maybe that's what Greendale does, not necessarily dumbs you down; just puts you in your place.

#

While she's reapplying sunscreen, he's checking out the patio. He stumbles upon a storage bin with a bunch of playthings, boogie boards, floaties, things to build sand castles with, shovels, buckets...

He's about to close it up when Annie sees a red sandcastle mold sitting in the bin and gasps in a high-pitched squeal: "Oh my God!"

At first he thinks she's spotted a huge spider or something she would find terrifying but then sees her smiling eyes looking directly at the bin full of toys.

"What?"

She points at the bin, "We can build a sand castle!"

"Annie, these are for children..."

"...And we can use them!" She looks at him with excitement. "Do you want to build a sandcastle?" She singsongs.

His eyes grow wide and he tilts his head irritably, and she gets the message of what she accidently just did.

He recognizes the tune from _Frozen_ and points a finger at her: "Do not."

"It doesn't have to be a sandcastle…"

"Annie," his voice is stern even though he's biting his lip, trying his hardest not to give in laughing.

"Okay, bye."

He turns around with sigh and then feels a something hit his back and clatter to the floor. When he looks down he sees the red plastic mold on the ground and looks up to find Annie running away, laughing.

"Now we're throwing things? Real mature!" he shouts out to her.

She turns back to smile but keeps running toward the water.

By the time he reaches the water, Annie is already swimming around in the ocean. The water creeps up on his toes and it sends a chill down his spine each time it does. He sits right where he's at and lays his back on the damp sand. The water slowly splashes over his body and the sounds of the beach become muffled as he tunes everything out and sighs and slowly skinks into the sand.

He hears heavy splashing, and it gets closer and closer until it stops right next to him.

"Tired?" Annie's voice asks.

"Nope."

"Relaxing?"

"Yup."

He hears her sigh and take a seat next to him. When water rises and splashes both of them she shrieks and it makes him chuckle.

He could have sworn that he felt Annie's eyes on him but when he squints his eyes to check he sees her hugging her legs and looking out at the sea. Reluctantly, he sits up and combs the sand out of the back of his hair and leans back digging his palms into the sand behind him. When he fully opens his eyes the brightness of the sun hurts them and he groans.

"You weren't sleeping were you?"

"No, I told you I was just relaxing."

She nods silently and sighs again. "It's so nice out," she mumbles- probably for herself but he responds anyway.

"Yeah, it's supposed to be a nice week up here."

He sees her fingers mess with the sand beneath the thin layer of water, drawing aimless circles and creating a fog of sand in the shallow water. He can see the wheels turning as she thinks of something to say to keep up this pitifully slow weather-based conversation, so he helps her out.

"So what's Abed doing this week?"

She quits playing with the sand and turns to him, "He's going to see his dad for a few days. That's pretty much it."

"Have any idea what the rest of our friends are doing this week?"

"Umm," she mumbles, "I think Britta is going to see her brother's family for the Fourth... why are you looking at me like that?"

"Do you talk to Britta that much?" He asks as Annie scrunches her forehead in response "What? I'm just asking. Do you?"

"Yeah... she's a friend." Her voice is slow, and hesitant and there is no question that there is underlying jealousy there.

"Did she ever talk about me and her...?"

She leans back on her hands, "Yeah. But she doesn't want to marry you, if that's what you're asking…"

"That's not what I'm asking." Something tightens in him and he clenches his fist discretely. He's being way too defensive about this.

"Well, since you're _so_ interested, she thinks you're back to being a smug douche."

He laughs, "Good to hear she's back to normal."

"Are you?" The jealousy in her voice is replaced with a hint of concern and he feels this warmth spreading under his chest.

"Me? I'm perfectly normal." She scoffs at him. "We were both just being stupid. That's all." It comes out more defensively than he means, but it's the truth.

She holds her hands up in surrender. "Hey, just checking. I know what it's like to make dumb decisions."

He quirks an eyebrow at her. What dumb decisions? Annie makes smart decisions, right?

"I almost ran away with Vaughn, you know, my boyfriend for a total of three months," she says bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "That's what I meant."

_Riiiiight_.

"Well..." he starts, trying to defend her.

"No..." She shakes her head and laughs to herself, "It pretty was stupid."

He shrugs, "I don't know, getting married on a whim is pretty stupid too."

He looks up from the ground to see Annie looking out at the waves. She sighs, "I'm just saying I know what it's like to make decisions because you're lonely or scared." "I've made a lot," she shakes her head at herself, "_a lot_ of dumb decisions that way."

He's not sure what she means by 'a lot', but he feels like she's talking to herself and allowing him to listen. He wants to say that he gets it, or that he doesn't make good decisions in bad situations either, but he's already proven that point.

"Well, thanks for supporting me in my time of idiocy," He offers her a small, warm smile.

"Well," she finally breaks eye contact with the tide to look back at him. She struggles to hold on to her thought as his eyes meet hers and he smiles tentatively. There's a hitch in her breath as she tries to say what she wanted to say. Her mouth opens soundlessly and she diverts her eyes from his sending a chill across her whole body.

He remembers that night, clearly, way too clearly for something that happened years ago.

She had explained she couldn't go, he explained what he was doing outside and then he was making a joke about having a foursome with two versions of himself and Britta and Slater.

"_I guess I better go deal with it."_

"_Good luck." _

"_Umm, I'm glad you're staying."_

Then she nodded and smiled sweetly at him. He gave her a hug. Then she kissed him.

It was that quick.

When she backed away to look at him once more, he pulled her to him. The way he got to hold her, even if it was just that one time, it wasn't something he ever forgot. Sometime after he captured her lips and before her mouth opened, he realized what the following year would have been like without her, and he held her closer. Then both of their mouths were open and their hands were everywhere and it was all too much-

Shit. He can't be thinking like this now. Or _ever_.

"Well," he sighs, coming out of his trance. "I can't imagine what things would be like if you left."

She laughs, "Yeah, the study group would be somehow even _more_ unproductive."

"No," he starts. "_I'm _glad you stayed. I mean yeah, no one would study I mean-" he sighs abandoning the rest of that thought, "I care about you, and I'm happy you're in my life."

She nods at him and chuckles. "Well, I'm happy you're in my life."

"And I'm glad you stayed," he adds.

"And I'm glad you didn't get married."

"Touché."

#

He plants his hands on the sand and kicks his legs up, almost kicking Annie in the face. He stays in his handstand for an impressive time and then comes down.

"See?"

She looks at him unimpressed, "You almost hit me in the face."

"Sorry," he holds his hands up.

They're about ten feet away from the water and just asking to be rushed to the hospital.

When she asked him randomly if he could do a handstand she tried to cover the wide-eyed look of oh-crap-things-are-getting-too-weird-right-now with a smile. After all the talk about Jeff getting married, and her dating Vaughn, and a vague mention of the transfer dance, things got too... uncomfortable, for her anyway.

Annie huffs at his unapologetic apology and backs up. She shoos him out of the way and he raises his eyebrow at her. "But can you do _this_?"

She takes off running and does this round off cartwheel thing, and Jeff momentarily thinks he can top that until she launches herself into a backhand spring. She lands, a little wobbly but raises her arms in the air as he sits there slack jawed.

She walks back toward him with one hand rubbing her lower back and other rubbing her shoulder. "God, I should have stretched for that," she groans.

"Wow... um."

"I did cheerleading until I was fifteen," she answers his unasked question while popping her back.

"I was going to say…"

She brushes the sand off of her hands. "I made the mistake of showing that to Troy and Abed once, they made me be in their films as a stunt woman," she rolls her eyes.

He wrinkles his brow, "Don't stunt people fall out of buildings, and not do flips?"

She shrugs and makes an 'I don't know' noise.

Jeff chuckles and kicks at the incoming wave, which feels cold now that they've been out of the water for a while.

She stands back with her arms crossed, looking out and fixing her eyes at where the ocean meets the sky.

"What time is it?" She asks without looking away.

He ruffles though her bag to find either his or her phone.

"Five 'til 4:30."

Arms still crossed over her stomach, she turns on her heel to face Jeff, who's putting his phone back in her bag. "What do you want to do about dinner?"

He makes an "eh" sound followed by a shrug. "It's whatever."

"Well," she says reaching down for her beach bag. "I'm tired and I going to be hungry soon, so I'm going to clean myself up."

He grabs the two towels from the ground and slings them over his shoulder as they walk toward the house. He sees Annie struggling to shrug the strap of the bag up her arm and trades her for the towels.

#

The skin under her bathing suit stings when she takes it off, she had always been prone to sunburns. She turns around in the mirror to look at her back. She's only red around were her swimsuit ties which isn't bad, considering she fell asleep in the sun once.

She steps into the shower, letting the water run colder than usual to soothe her burns and she does everything in her power to think about what to have for dinner, and not about what happened today. Not that anything actually happened; just a few glances and suggestive smiles. Maybe she's looking into it. Probably.

When she's ready she walks down to the kitchen, leaving her thoughts behind.

A little later, Jeff walks down the steps into the kitchen, still drying his hair with a towel, and sees that Annie's already there. Standing in front of the fridge trying to decide what to make. He sees her standing with her wet hair spreading water on the back of her tee shirt.

"What do you want?" She asks without turning to look at him.

"A drink," he says flatly.

"For dinner."

"Do one of those frozen pizzas you toss in the oven."

Annie nods and opens the freezer to get a veggie pizza out. She looks for the directions on the back and goes to preheat the oven; meanwhile Jeff hoists himself up on the counter. Once she's done, she sits on the kitchen island right across from him and claps her hands together and places them in her lap with a sigh.

"I'm going to get a drink," he swings off the counter.

"May I-" She starts but is interrupted.

"Do you want one?"

"Yes please," she tilts her head to the side and smiles.

Jeff pulls out the blender, and dumps the ingredients for a margarita in and the blender whirls to life. It's loud, and she's just watching him add in chunks of ice and almost misses when the oven timer goes off when it's done preheating.

They sit at the corner of the awkwardly large table with their pizza and drinks. There isn't much to talk about, being that they spent the entire day together and will continue to do so for the next few days.

The silence is too much for her, so she takes a sip of her drink, smiles, and complements him, "These are really good!"

His mouth is full so he just nods. "Thanks," he mumbles with napkin over his mouth.

She looks at the table with wide eyes, running though a mental catalog of things to talk about.

"What do you want to do tomorrow?"

He shrugs as he takes a sip of his drink.

Damnit, Jeff. Really?

She props her elbows on the table with a slice of pizza in her hands and thinks. "Okay well, there's Santa Monica which is about thirty minutes away, hiking, there's some pretty cool things to do in Malibu too... umm..." She tries to think of more things to do as she takes a bit out of her pizza.

"Hiking?"

She nods while she finishes chewing and swallowing. "Yeah, Escondido Falls. It's like four miles or something, bunch of waterfalls, a pretty cool view. Sound good?"

"It's supposed to be cooler tomorrow, so if you wanted to go tomorrow would be the time to do it."

She nods her head, "But do you want to?"

"I really don't care," he shrugs.

She rolls her eyes at his nonchalance, "It's your trip too! I want you to have a say in what we do." She waits for him to say something but he just shrugs again. "Here how about this, I'll only take up like half a day so you pick what we do for the other half."

"I like what we did today."

"Just hanging out?"

"Yeah," he nods picking an oversized tomato off his pizza. "So hiking in the morning and beach later?"

She looks up from playing with her straw in her drink, "Sounds good."

It's nearly seven by the time they're done eating and start clearing off the table. When they're done, they wander out to the patio and plop down on the cushiony sofa, exhausted.

They're in this secluded outdoor sun area of the balcony. It has three walls and is covered by the second story balcony. The wall facing the sea has an opening that frames the ocean, and a couch on the other side, but they only stay there long enough for Annie to decide she wants to take a walk on the beach.

She gets up and doesn't make him come with her, besides some alone time would probably do her good.

He rests his head back on the edge of the sofa and closes his eyes. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to take a walk."

He doesn't bother to open his eyes; he just gives her a 'thumbs up' and goes back to relaxing.

The sand is soft and damp beneath her feet; wet enough to where she can leave footprints. The warm sea breeze blows though her drying hair and the water occasionally splashes her ankles. She giggles every time it does because she can't actually believe she's here. She walks along the coastline, and for what seems like the first time during this trip, she safely lets her thoughts wander.

She's not going to lie; she loves the way Jeff looks at her. Every girl wants to be looked at that way, but it's Jeff. It's kind of weird, but at the same time kind of desirable. Still, being anything more than a friend sounds like a good idea in theory but actually being anything remotely romantic to him… is scary. But the more she thinks, the more she warms up to the idea. She loves him, but she's not _in _love with him. But they're adults; nothing has to mean anything, right?

She turns around to see the house, small and in the distance, and starts walking back to it. When she's almost there she sees Jeff walk down to the sand.

Neither of them pick up the pace, after all running to each other on the beach? This isn't a Nicholas Sparks novel.

They meet halfway.

His hands are in his pockets as he walks toward her, "Hey," he nods.

"Hi," she says softly.

He turns and faces the ocean and she follows suit.

The sun is getting closer and closer to going down beneath the waves and she sighs audibly at the amazing sight in front of her.

"It's pretty isn't it," he hardly whispers looking up at the clouds that change colors from blue, to purple, to pink, and then to orange.

It's strange seeing this side of him. The side that talks in hushed tones and looks at the sky and voices how pretty it is. The side of him that does the dishes for her and steals olives off her pizza and sings in the car, it's oddly comforting to see how normal he really is.

She nods as she snaps back to reality and responds even quieter than he did. "It really is."

He shifts his weight next to her, bumping shoulders with her and making her stumble.

"Hey!"

He throws his hands up, "Sorry, accident."

She giggles quietly and tries to push him the other way, but fails when he chuckles and grabs her waist and whispers, "I will throw you in."

"Why do I feel like that's an empty threat?" She turns her head back and looks up at him from under her eyelashes.

"You shouldn't. I already pushed you in once today," he lifts her up effortlessly and swings her toward the ocean without actually letting go.

She squeals and flails her arms trying to hit him, "Jeff! I'm sorry I didn't believe your threat!"

"You believe me now huh?"

"Yes!" She laughs, "Now put me down!" She feels him lower her to the ground. She swats his arm as she mutters, "Thank you."

Once her feet are on the ground only one of Jeff's hands slides off of her waist, while the other one remains wrapped around her back. There's a hitch in her breath, and she's not sure what to do. She settles for resting her head against his arm, and he doesn't seem to mind. In fact he looks down at her, smiles and brushes a strand of hair that fell out of her ponytail behind her ear.

The sun is almost to the ocean and the only noise is the quiet crashing of the waves until she interrupts the silence.

"Thanks for bringing me."

He looks down at her again to see she's looking down at the wave crashing into their feet.

"Thanks for coming," it comes out low and breathlessly.

Her toes are making little designs in the sand and she stops when this terrifying thought comes to her, that this JeffandAnniething is too easy. Not Jeff _with_ Annie, but Jeff _and_ Annie. Hell, they're watching the sunset and standing with his arm around her, and Annie knows that it's something she shouldn't look into but it's just too easy to. She's read her fair share of romance novels; she knows what's supposed to happen next.

The sun finally goes down and they stand there just watching the bright colors fade from the sky.


	4. Chapter 4

Spoilers: Current  
>Disclaimer: I don't own Community.<p>

Author's Note:

Thanks to my wonderful friend Caitlin for the beta (Wandering Violinist).

The title comes from Of Monsters and Men's song From Finner.

#

The next day is different.

When Jeff wakes up he is caught in a fog of what happened yesterday. He remembers the crashing waves, Annie running around in her red cover up, the way the sand felt under his feet, her laughing as her hair blew in the breeze, her smile, and when she smiled at _him._

Oh god.

He falls back and lets his head hit the pillows and tries to fall back asleep so he can start the day with other thoughts, and not exactly what he is trying to get away from. But instead he brushes it aside and instinctively gets out of bed and begins to go about his normal routine- just thousands of miles away from home. He digs though his suitcase and throws a shirt on and before heading downstairs he takes his phone off of the charger. He glances at the time on the home screen of his phone: 7:45. He mentally kicks himself for waking up early and briefly reconsiders going back to bed, but opts against it just as quickly, sliding his phone into the space between his hip and the elastic band of his pants as he heads down the hall.

Before he reaches the stairs he stops at Annie's slightly open door. Gently, he taps one finger on the wood, pushing it forward and allowing him a wider view into her room. He doesn't see her, but he sees a lump of blankets and strands of brown hair disappearing beneath the covers and suddenly he feels a bubbling sensation at his throat and a chill go down his back. He's not entirely creeped out by what he's doing until an image of Edward Cullen flashes in his head and that makes him jolt from his pose on the door. Leaving whatever came over him behind, he hurries downstairs to decide what to do about breakfast.

#

By the time Annie comes downstairs she finds Jeff setting the table with plates, cups, and silverware all set out very precisely. She stands under the arch of the stairs to see him walk back to the kitchen to get a jug of orange juice out of the fridge.

"Wow," she yawns as she steps out of the stairwell. "This is nice."

He follows the drowsy voice and turns his head sharply to find her standing between the dinning room and the kitchen.

"Well, you made breakfast yesterday," he shrugs. "And, I found a waffle iron," he sing songs with a smile.

She nods, "Well is there anything I can do?"

He points her over to the dinning room table, "Nope, I've got it."

She takes a seat in front of one of the empty plates and watches as Jeff brings over a plate of waffles and syrup. He sets them down in front of her and nods for her to help herself.

"This is really nice of you Jeff," she says stifling a yawn.

He shrugs as he reaches over for the orange juice and starts to pour it in Annie's glass while trying not to let this warm feeling gush out of him. "It's nothing," he mumbles. "Besides you made breakfast yesterday and when I walked by your room you were sleeping and I figured you'd be hungry by the time you got up."

His argument makes no sense and she wants to hit him. He does this thing where he tries to be sincere but then covers it up with a bunch of remarks like "it's not a big deal," or "I don't mind," but Annie accepts his kind gesture regardless.

"Well, it looks great."

And Jeff can't help the warmth that spreads over his chest.

About an hour later they're on the road.

It's been a full day since either of them had stepped foot in a car, and they don't miss the confined space at all. But the drive is only ten minutes away and Annie spends most of it looking out the window.

She sits on her legs and perches by the window with her hands clasped in her lap and overhears him chuckle.

"What?"

He pretends he wasn't looking and grips the steering wheel with both hands. "Huh?"

"You laughed… at me?"

"Well, you're... um..."

She cocks her head sideways and lowers an eye brow, "I'm what?"

"You're cute."

She points a finger at herself and raises her eyebrow.

"You're excited and I think it's cute," he thinks about his words, and mentally throws himself out the window. "Is that weird?"

She smiles back at him and shakes her head 'no' as he nods to himself, and she goes back to looking out her window, smiling even bigger.

Jeff resists the urge to hit himself while she isn't looking.

#

California it turns out is pretty dry anywhere away from the ocean. The air isn't as heavy as it is in Greendale but it's hotter. When Jeff kills the engine, the car immediately starts heating up at an uncomfortable pace, and with the visible heat waves coming up from the ground, it doesn't make getting out of the car any more appealing. It also doesn't help that the first mile is an uphill walk without shade on a dirt trail on the side of a residential street lined with fancy homes. Reluctantly, she gets out of the car and kicks at a weed growing through the asphalt of the parking lot while she waits on Jeff to lock up his car.

They're a little more than halfway to the actual mountain when the trail parts from the street, giving them a nice view of the canyon. It looks dry enough to be in a drought, but the view of the rolling hills is actually pretty stunning.

"That's really cool," Jeff mumbles.

"This?" She sound surprised.

"Yeah, it's so," he uses his hands to help him describe but he just looks ridiculous, "so wide."

She laughs and nods, "Well, canyons tend to be."

"Oh shut up miss I've-been-to-the-Grand-Canyon-once."

She rams into his side with crossed arms.

"Hey, remember the last time you did that and I pushed you into the water?" He smirks and nods to the canyon.

She rolls her eyes and starts to jog away.

"What? Wait, Annie where are you going?"

She stops and turns around. "To the actual trail! It's hot!" She shouts, "C'mon!"

He takes one last look at the canyon before taking off to catch up to her.

Walking uphill in this heat isn't exactly fun, which makes Jeff wonder why he agreed to give Annie a piggyback ride. She's really light so it's not like its hard or anything- but the added weight isn't exactly desirable either.

They'd reached the shaded part of the trail not too long ago. It wasn't anything special, just an awning of trees forming a nice walkway but regardless Annie had stopped every ten seconds, or something like that, to take a picture of a tree, or a flower, or whatever. He told her she was worse than Britta and that's when Annie took off running and jumped onto Jeff's back by surprise.

"You know you weigh like three pounds? So if you're trying to punish me or something, this is literally nothing."

She laughs, "I do _NOT_ weigh three pounds."

"Okay, fifty pounds."

"You're getting warmer."

"Whatever, you're still really light."

He could keep going but he stops, "Alright Annie, times up. Get off."

"What, why?" She whines.

"You may be light, but my back is sunburnt."

She hops off of him and then hits his shoulder, where he happens to be a little sunburnt. "Hey!"

She speeds up and reaches a safe distance so he can't actually do anything to her. "That's what happens when you lounge around in the sun and don't reapply sunscreen!" She shouts without turning around.

She's one to preach about sun protection; running around in that bikini… no, no… do _NOT_ say that.

"You know what, you're right! I should have used more sunscreen so I can cart you around on my back!" He teases.

She gasps and keeps walking in front of him. He briefly considers doing what she did and running and jumping on her back but then he realizes that he'd probably break her.

As the tree coverage becomes denser a sound of water becomes more and more clear, and after walking in silence for a while, it's nice to hear. Occasionally a word or two gets thrown in about anything but for the most part it's silent.

Jeff didn't really notice Annie skipping ahead of him until she turned around completely, walked toward him, and grabbed his hand, dragging him along. But when he finally reached her pace she didn't let go of him and honestly, he didn't have an interest in pulling away.

So that's how they came about standing hand in hand in front of an impressive waterfall, and it's such a fucking cliché he wants to dive in head first into the six-inch deep pool of water.

He lets his hand relax into hers as his eyes follow the exact path of the water as it falls and trickles down stream into the small pool of clear water.

He's interrupted when Annie breaks free of his hand and pulls her phone out of her drawstring backpack to take more pictures. He instinctively rolls her eyes at her, but she doesn't see- nor care, probably. He sees her bending down and looking for the best angle to take a picture of the waterfall to which he audibly scoffs.

"What?" She doesn't look up from her picture taking.

"Nothing."

"I've seen you take three pictures this entire trip," she slowly stands back up while inspecting the picture on her phone. "I'm taking pictures for the both of us so I don't want to hear it."

He holds his hands in surrender then turns his attention to a young family of three. The mother and father were trying to have a moment as they admired the falls, most likely trying to ignore their little boy who was running around the two. He looks about four, maybe five and seems to be very interested in cars. Jeff watches him run around with his hands in the ten and two position shouting things like: "Mommy look! I'm a car! BEEB BEEB! MOMMY! Loooooook!"

"Yes, Justin?"

"I'm a car."

"Alright."

Jeff diverts his attention back to Annie, who was still preoccupied with her phone, zooming in on a picture. He places his hands on her shoulders, startling her, "Do you ever stop?"

She raises her eyebrow.

"You know, stop and smell the roses."

She actually laughs, because it's Jeff of all people giving her this advice.

"I happen to stop and enjoy life every now and then. Thank you."

He shakes his head and lets his hands slide down her arms and into her hands. Her breathing hitches silently as she watches him then looks back up, not stopping him. His eyes are dark and his lips slightly parted and she feels her own heart beating and she suddenly decides that she needs him. It'd be convenient to kiss him, especially now with the waterfall in the background and with him looking at her this way.

He swallows as she breaks eye contact and looks off to the side where the kid is running around and climbing into the shallow water.

"No, Justin! Come back here!" The father yells.

She looks back at Jeff, who's smirking now. She cocks her head to the side and before she can do anything she feels her phone slide out of her hand and sees Jeff holding it high above her head.

"Dirty!" She slumps and crosses her arms. "You can't do that!"

"Do what?" He asks coyly.

"Never mind."

"Sorry," he mumbles under his breath.

She doesn't know if she wants to encourage him or stop- whatever this is. "Don't be."

His smile turns smug as he dangles her phone in front of her face.

She swats at him as he tucks her phone into his back pocket.

"Please Jeff, you're the one who's always on the phone. You're one to talk!"

They're interrupted by the sound of crying, they both turn to look and it's the kid, lying in the water.

They watch as the parents lift the kid out of the water and inspect him to make sure he's okay. "Justin, we told you no playing in the water."

They divert their attention back to one another and Annie smiles and bats her eyelashes, "My phone please."

He rolls his eyes and he reaches into his pocket to pull her phone out.

She snatches her phone and tosses it into her backpack, "There happy?"

"You're worse than me."

#

After a while of walking around they head back down to the car. Midway through the drive home they decide on stopping for lunch. They go to a quaint little deli that Jeff's mother recommended, and enjoy their sandwiches in the cool air conditioning, talking about anything except themselves.

Everything feels back to normal except that sometimes they catch themselves smiling at each other for no reason, and they both try to convince themselves it means absolutely nothing.

When they drive home they spend the time planning out the rest of their day, and Annie feels so so _so_ relieved when Jeff says he needs a nap because that means she can clear her mind as well.

The beach.

Perfect, she'll go to the beach.

She takes the umbrella she found and plants it in the sand. After a few failed attempts she finally gets it standing on its own and she lays a towel out and sits in the shade. Her little set up is pretty much perfect. She's got the shade, there's a nice breeze blowing, she's got a drink, and a choice of some books to read; it's a perfect way to take her mind off of everything.

As soon as she opens her book she shuts it.

She wonders if she should be concerned that they aren't talking about whatever is going on between them, but she doesn't care. Before she reopens her book she reminds herself that nothing has to mean anything, and they both can blame it on the fact that they were on vacation.

Yeah. That sounds good.

#

When Jeff wakes up from his nap he's still a little drowsy and feels like their hiking adventure was yesterday or was a really foggy dream, and not a few hours ago. He stumbles out of his room and wanders downstairs and into the kitchen looking for something to snack on and ends up opening a box of red, white, and blue popsicles and gets one for him and one for Annie, wherever she is.

"Annie?" His voice echoes through the large house.

From inside the kitchen he sees Annie lying on a towel under a colorful umbrella with a book in her hand.

He reaches where she's set up and without warning sits down next to her making her jump a little.

"Hi," she gasps peering up from her book.

"Popsicle?"

She looks at her melted, and almost empty drink and smiles with a nod, "Thanks."

She scoots over on the towel allowing him room to sit with her. They unwrap their popsicles and before Annie can actually eat hers she takes her phone out of her bag and snaps a picture of the popsicle with the ocean in the background.

And before he can say something ridiculous she mutters, "Shut up."

They sit under the umbrella for a while, hiding away from the sun. Moments later their popsicles are melting onto their hands and they're rushing to finish them before the sun melts them away. The red and blue liquid runs down Annie's fingers and turns to purple at her wrist.

"Look at you," he says almost done with his. "You're a mess."

She bites off the remaining popsicle and drops the stick while she deals with the brain freeze. He snickers at her while she presses her thumb to the roof of her mouth and she tries to wipe the sticky liquid off her fingers. She resorts to just licking her fingers and once Jeff realizes what's actually happening he pretends that there's something very interesting happening on the end of his popsicle stick.

He makes the mistake of glancing over as her finger slowly slides out of her mouth and brushes against her lip. Her eyes are growing darker and he feels his breathing slow down, and neither of them look away until Annie starts to smile which turns into a giggle and for a fraction of a second, it kind of reminds him of _Lolita._

Oh God, they had been making eye contact.

He gives a nervous laugh and suddenly his stomach feels heavy.

He should go, but instead it's Annie who gets up. She takes her cover up off and walks into the water without really looking back. He falls back on her towel with his head hitting the sand with a thud and tries to not think.

He's not admitting to being Humbert in this scenario, but she sure as hell is Lolita.

About fifteen minutes later Annie comes back from sitting around in the water and Jeff sits up as she passes him.

"Hot tub," she says. It's not a question, it's 'Hot tub, you're coming with.'

"Annie, it's so hot out," he groans.

She stops and turns around to see him, still lying down and not moving. "My feet hurt from walking all morning!" She defends herself. "I'm probably not even going to turn on the heater, just the jets."

She's obviously inviting him to come with her. He's smart and can hear it in her voice. She's still standing there waiting for him to get up and when he reluctantly sits up she lets out a "Yay!" and walks to the patio where she rinses off her legs.

By the time he walks up to the hot tub he finds her sitting sideways with her eyes closed, her legs taking up the whole bench. He steps over her into the lukewarm water and reaches to move her legs.

She opens her eyes and playfully glares at him and kicks his leg, then places her feet carefully on his lap.

"Hey!" He looks back at her and doesn't do anything but hold her ankles so she doesn't kick him again.

She giggles and tries to get away, he tsks at her and loosens her grip on her ankles and presses his thumb to the arch of her foot. She hums in satisfaction and Jeff takes the hint to keep going.

"Your feet hurt, right?" He asks.

She shakes her head. "Not if you keep this up," she sighs.

His hands slow and his thumb presses into the arch of her foot. She lets out a hum as her head falls back on to the ledge.

He should hate himself for doing this, but he doesn't. He can't. In fact, hating himself doesn't really work when she's around, and that fact should scare him.

#

"We both did so well yesterday though!" Annie whines when her and Jeff look at their red faces in the hall mirror together. "What the hell?"

"I did better than you," he smirks pressing a cold finger to her burnt shoulder. "Did you even use sunscreen?"

"Yes!" She pulls aside her strap of her swimsuit to see her tan line. "But I've had worse. I burn really easy."

"One time when I was a kid my mom took me to the community pool and I fell asleep in the sun for a few hours. It was horrible, I stayed home from school because I couldn't carry my backpack," he laughs at the unpleasant memory.

"You missed school because of a sunburn?" She raises her eyebrows and judges him.

"Okay, Annie, I'm not you."

She rolls her eyes and walks away towards the upstairs. "I'm going to take a shower," she calls when she's almost at the top of the stairs.

"You brought aloe right?"

"Yup."

"Good," he mutters.

He's still standing in front of the mirror as her door shuts. He presses a finger to his forehead to check how sunburnt he actually is, but he hisses in pain. His face hurts and the thought of sticking it in an icebox seems very appealing. His phone vibrates on the kitchen counter, interrupting his self-pitying. He walks over to see who it is and hopes he can just screen it.

Abed.

He raises an eyebrow at his phone, which hurts his forehead.

"Hey buddy." It's more of a question rather than an actual greeting.

"Jeff, I'm trying to get ahold of Annie. Is she there?"

"Uh, no she's in the shower right now. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. Just roommate stuff. Can you have her call me?"

"Um, yeah sure."

"Bye, Jeff."

"Bye."

Roommate stuff?

He gets really defensive like that's a code for her and Abed having some secret relationship, until he remembers that they are actually looking for a roommate. He feels stupid and there's this twisting feeling in his stomach after he realizes what his thought process just was.

"Fuck," he mumbles under his breath.

#

After two nights of dinner together they've fallen into a routine. They have "their spots" at the table and usually while Annie is cooking Jeff is making drinks, and they play their music and bicker over what song to play. They sit at the dinner table and contribute to an aimless conversation between taking bites and chewing.

Tonight is no different, except that Annie slips out for a moment to call Abed. But when they sit down for dinner it's somehow comforting, and Jeff finds it hard to believe that they've been doing this for only two days. It's felt like weeks, and it's so comforting how normal it feels.

Tonight they talk about her future roommate, and Jeff's mother, nothing out of the ordinary. And when he makes her laugh he feels this weird sensation that makes him want to smile and vomit simultaneously. She kicks him under the table when he says something rude, or perhaps inappropriate, which he earns a high pitched: "Jeeeefff!"

They clear the table and he watches as she sings 'Drops of Jupiter' when it comes on Jeff's iPod. She twirls around him as she asks Jeff "_did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day, and head back to the Milky Way?_"

He has never seen her this comfortable. Her hair is messy, the baggy shirt she's wearing is hanging off her shoulders, she's not wearing makeup; it's a good look on her. Plus she's singing and dancing around to Train. She's perfect this way.

And suddenly he has this need to kiss her.

Instead, he leans against the pillar between the living area and the kitchen watching her wash the dishes in the sink. And when she looks up her smile softens and her eyes lock with his, like always.

She blushes and goes back about her business and Jeff gathers the remaining plates from the table.

"Thanks," she smiles up at him when he places them on the counter. Just like that moment never happened.

After the kitchen is clean they make their way outside. Each with a beer, they sit out on the top of the stairs going down to the beach. They're talking about their past years at Greendale and reminiscing about all the ridiculous outfits the Dean wore until they're interrupted by a loud boom in the sky.

They both freeze up and Annie clutches her heart over her chest and gasps.

"It's just fireworks, Annie," he deadpans.

"Oh my god," she laughs, still in a state of shock. "That scared me."

"I know," he mumbles into his bottle before taking a sip.

"Hey! Think about loud noises, and think about where I used to live."

He holds his hands up in surrender, "I'm not judging."

She's mid sip when she points a finger at him while shaking her head obnoxiously before swallowing, "Mhmm, you were."

"Are you drunk?"

She laughs whole heartedly, "Jeff this is my second alcoholic drink today, I'm fine."

He raises his eyebrows and sets his bottle down as he leans back on his palms, "Just checking. Although you've got to admit you're an entertaining drunk. That one time you and Britt-"

"I remember!" Her voice get's all high and defensive. "Thanks."

"Do you really?"

She cringes and nods.

"Britta felt really horrible about that, like she corrupted you or something."

"Why? I'm old enough to get drunk. I can make out with another consenting adult if I so chose… even if I'm not sober," she mumbles the last part quietly and he chuckles.

"I'm aware." It comes out a little more bitter than he would have liked. "You know, you don't have to do that kind of stuff to remind everyone of your age."

She nods, "No, I know. I'm just really tired of people looking at me like some kid."

"I don't thin-"

She shakes her head and holds out a finger, "Stop- just don't."

He cocks his head to the side and looks at her. "I don't think of you as a kid."

She looks down at her beer bottle. "I know you don't," she mumbles without looking.

"Do you not believe me?"

She's quiet for a moment before answering. "I do. I just don't want you to feel obligated to protect me, or whatever you do because of my age."

"I don't feel obligated. It's just- you're just really important to me, Annie. And I care about you."

"I know you do," her voice is hardly a whisper.

She smiles to herself before finishing her beer and looking back up. "But enough about me being drunk. Let's talk about you, you're an… _interesting_ drunk."

The sudden subject change throws him off a little, "So I've been told."

"Remember my twenty second birthday?" She laughs. "You got into this really heated argument with Garret about…" she snaps her fingers as she tries to remember, "I want to say you were arguing about something really stupid but I honestly can't remember."

"Yeah, you were probably busy with Britta."

She scoffs and rams her shoulder into him, "Drop it!"

"It's forgotten," he mumbles quietly like he's afraid he offended her, but all seems forgiven as Annie looks up and smiles at the sky.

Even though the only noise comes from them shifting around on the deck and the occasional fireworks that light the sky, it somehow gets quieter, until Annie interrupts the silence with a laugh.

"When I was... eight? No nine, I was nine. I was spending the Fourth of July with my brother and my dad and he let us set off fireworks, and we had these bottle rockets."

Jeff laughs and shakes his head, "Burn the house down?"

There was something fascinating about watching Annie tell stories from her past. Maybe because he has it in his head that she had a shitty childhood and so whenever she's talking fondly about family moments, it's rare. She's a good storyteller too and gets really into what she's saying. Her face lights up when she talks about these rare, happy moments, and it makes him feel all warm and happy inside; it's disgusting.

He's quiet before finally deciding to tell his Fourth of July story.

"One year my dad randomly came back on the fourth of July and he took me to see fireworks," He's slouched over with his arms resting on his knees, passing back and fourth an empty beer bottle that he keeps eyeing.

Annie's smile fades and she gets really quiet and watches him carefully.

He lifts his head and looks out at the fireworks down the beach as he continues his story, "We drove around and I looked out the window at all the fireworks and he told me that when I was old enough he'd pick me up again and take me to the park and we'd actually do fireworks."

A small sound leaves Annie's mouth as her heart breaks, because she somehow knows that his dad never followed through with that promise. She doesn't want to hear him say it out loud, but he does.

"And that was the last time I saw him," he shifts awkwardly before adding, "You know, until recently."

Annie scoots over to him and carefully places her hand on the back of his and starts rubbing back and forth with her thumb. He eyes her hand smiles softly to himself, and mumbles something that she can't quite make out.

"But," he snaps his head up and chuckles; "We did have sparklers so that was fun."

She nods silently not really sure what to say but settles on, "It sounds like a good memory."

"One of the few."

She squeezes his hand as she's about to let go but he flips his hand over hers and intertwines their fingers. They glance down before looking at each other and suddenly Jeff lets go and Annie feels him pulling her up to his side. She rests her head on his shoulder and his arm wraps around her back.

She gently places a kiss on his cheek and leans back before anything else can happen. "I care about you too you know."

He rests his chin on her head and whispers, "I know you do."

The fireworks have ceased but they still look up at the sky lacking the bright explosives going off every so often. It was just them now, no whistling of fireworks shooting off into the air and no loud booming noises to cover the sounds of them breathing. Annie feels herself absorbing the heat rolling off of Jeff's body, and she is so warm and comfortable she wants to never let go of him.

They stay like that for a while until Annie feels herself dozing off and she reluctantly gets up. "I'm tired," she mumbles groggily.

She leaves him out there confused and anxious. Jeff wants her and he's sick of pretending he doesn't.

Well then.

At least he finally admitted it.


	5. Chapter 5

Spoilers: Current  
>Disclaimer: I don't own Community.<p>

Author's Note:Thanks to Caitlin (Wandering Violinist) for the beta and the motivation

The title comes from Of Monsters and Men's song From Finner.

#

Annie is halfway downstairs before she realizes what today is.

The Fourth of July.

Suddenly she gets really excited and decides on making breakfast similar to what she made Troy and Abed last year: red, white, and blue pancakes. That is, if Jeff hasn't woken up first. She gets downstairs and finds he's not in the kitchen. Yesterday he was the one who woke up early and sent her heart into a fit of girlish excitement, not that it was a big deal because people make breakfast for people sometimes.

And sometimes they have a few beers while discussing their darker moments and memories while watching fireworks.

And sometimes it's okay to kiss said friend on the cheek.

It all really depends so, for the billionth time SHE. WILL. NOT. LOOK. INTO. IT.

She finds the pancake mix and there is just enough for a batch of pancakes. She starts getting all her ingredients out and once she actually starts mixing it all together she's completely pushed all the Jeff stuff to the back of her mind.

She makes her pancakes in rectangle-ish shapes and circles and places the blueberries in the upper left corner and the chopped up strawberries into little stripes. For the other pancakes she opts for making fireworks designs and when she's done and they are all on a serving plate she smiles, pleased at her work, and goes to wake Jeff.

Jeff's door is closed, so she knocks and gets no response. So she cracks it open to see him sound asleep, and usually she would have left him alone but the food will get cold.

"Jeff," she mumbles. "Jeff," a little bit louder.

It takes her walking over to his bed and sitting down on the edge and gently patting his face to get him to wake up.

"Wha-"

"It's eleven," she states matter-of-factly.

"Neat," he mumbles as he flips over away from her.

"No, stop it!" She tries to pull him back but he's not budging. "I made breakfast, and it'll get cold."

She tugs on his arm like she did at the hotel. "Get. Up."

He slaps her hand away she gasps quietly. "I'm up," he mumbles finally opening his eyes, but finds her nowhere in sight.

Then he feels the bed sink down on the other side and thinks Annie climbing in his bed is a bad idea. A very _very_ bad idea.

She's on her knees and in one push, shoves him off the bed.

"Annie!" He yells catching himself before he falls on the floor.

When he turns around she's lying where he was moments ago batting her eyelashes like she did nothing wrong.

"You're dead," he mutters as he shoves her over. He gets on the bed and tries to push her off but instead she fights back and kind-of-sort-of pulls him on top of her. They roll to the middle of the bed and they're both roaring with laughter. She throws a few pathetic punches and each one he catches. He collapses on top of her and pins her hands to the pillow above her head and their laughter slows down. She notices the warmth she feels from his bare skin pressed against her chest. She feels lost in him, under him, in his bed, surrounded by him, and it isn't until she felt his legs brush against hers and she realizes that this is bad. Bad. Bad. Bad.

"Good morning," she smiles nervously.

"Morning." His smile fades, slowly letting his guard down. She takes the moment to regain control and flip them over.

"Breakfast is downstairs," she smiles as she rolls off of him and gets off the bed.

He nods silently. Once she walks out the door he falls back on his bed and can't help but give in to the smile playing at his lips.

Minutes later he walks downstairs to find her, to no surprise, in the kitchen.

"So I hope you learned a valuable lesson about waking me up," he says as he saunters in.

"What," she briefly turns her head away from plating the pancakes to see him across the kitchen island from her, "that when I try and wake you up you _try _to attack me?"

"Try?"

She gives a sly smile, "Last time I checked I walked away freely."

"Well yeah, I went easy on you," she can hear the duh-doy in his voice.

She shakes her head, "Whatever you want to think. Can you get the orange juice?"

He pours two glasses and carries them to the table and watches as Annie places the pancakes in front of him. "Clever," he smiles at the breakfast laid out in front of him.

"Happy Fourth," she smiles at him as she takes her seat.

"Happy Fourth," he returns.

#

"Hey, Annie. Have you stepped outside today?"

She looks up from the pile of dishes in the sink, "No, why?"

"It's really nice out, and windy." He leaves the door open but steps out into the comfortable breeze.

She sighs as she turns off the water, shakes her hands to air dry them off and hurries outside. "Wow, it is nice."

"Are you done inside?" She nods and he holds a hand out to her, "Milady."

She can feel her body flushing and her heart does that thing where she feels like she's suspended in mid air. She places her hand in his and returns the gesture, "Milord."

They walk along the beach hand in hand with the chilly water occasionally rising over their feet.

It would be so easy to stop and kiss him, and she knows he would do all the right things to make her want to tear his clothes off, but now? Now they're walking through a scene of a romantic movie and oddly enough, it wouldn't feel right to kiss him.

If there's one thing she's learned from Abed it's that romance novels never play out the same in real life. Life isn't a cliché; it's unpredictable, and attempting to mimic what plays out in the movies ends with people getting hurt.

She realizes that they haven't said a word to each other and Jeff may be comfortable with that, but the more she thinks about it, the more dangerous the silence is. But then again, they're saying more with the silence than words could ever say.

And she doesn't say a word until they get back in the house.

#

They were about one hour into a drawn out game of cards when they decided to actually do something productive with their day.

After Jeff's third demanded rematch of Speed he surrendered and threw his cards down on the table sending them everywhere. As they were picking them up he made a comment on the weather, and she agreed that it was too nice to stay in the house. So he offered to take her to lunch somewhere. Although she was confused as to how that pertained to the weather, Annie agreed.

The place he picked ended up being a really nice Italian place. It was one of those buildings that seem hidden unless you look for it. The exterior walls were made of stone and covered in vines with a single wooden door, while inside there was a whole wall dedicated to nice wine. And because ninety percent of people were at their family barbeque and pool party, it was almost empty.

So that's how they ended up lounging around outside sipping crisp white wine while Annie continued to tease him about how bad he was at Speed.

"What are you getting?"

"This shrimp pasta dish looks good," She mumbles peering up from her menu.

"How would you even pronounce that?"

She shrugs as their waiter places a basket of bread sticks down in front of them. Annie looks up, smiles and goes back to the menu as they both agree to not fill up on breadsticks.

And it's all great. Great wine, great food, great company… until the check comes.

"I'll get it," Annie says reaching for the check as she simultaneously reaches for her purse.

"Annie."

"It's fine. You've already paid for so much it's not a problem if-"

"Annie," this time it's harsher. "I took you out. I'll pick up the check."

"Jeff the last time I tried to give you money you," her voice gets louder and she looks around at the other patrons eyeing their table. "You took forty dollars for groceries," she mumbles quieter.

"Annie. I don't want you to pay."

And suddenly it's not about the check anymore.

"I'm taking you out..." He nods slowly, almost like he was communicating a secret message to her. "I want to pay."

And then she gets it. It's a date.

It's not that she doesn't _want_ it to be a date; she just didn't realize she was on one.

She smiles at him and places her wallet back in her purse, "Well, thank you, Jeff."

And in return her hand 'accidently' brushes up against his when they walk out of the restaurant and he grabs it.

It's crystal clear now.

"Santa Monica is thirty minutes away?" Jeff offers as he starts the engine. "There's plenty to do up there."

She nods eagerly, "I need to get souvenirs for Abed."

"Oh, God."

"Oh, shush you."

He smiles as he throws his car into drive, and still smiles when he gets on to the Pacific Coast Highway.

#

They make it to Santa Monica by four and Jeff parks his car across from the famous pier. They both watch as the pier buzzes with the sounds of carnival music, rides coming to life, laughs, and screams of excitements as the colorful rides twirl, rise, fall, and loop.

"I bet this looks amazing at night," she mumbles as he kills the engine.

He nods, "There'll be fireworks tonight, it'll look extra amazing."

"How do you know?"

"It's a tourist attraction on the Fourth of July. There'll be fireworks."

Annie checks her phone for the time. "It's four."

"And?"

"Nowhere near the time fireworks go off."

"Annie, there is plenty to do until then," he motions to the beach, pier, and other buildings.

"So, souvenirs?"

They make their way to a souvenir shop across from the pier with plenty of offensive shirts in the window and a bunch of 'I heart CA' merchandise. He follows her as she browses the shelves of picture frames, snow globes, and other little trinkets.

"You're shopping for Abed right?"

She's looking at a miniature blow glass dolphin that says Santa Monica on the side and nods to Jeff before putting it back.

"A tee-shirt maybe? No get him this!" She looks up from one the shelves to see him holding a shot glass in the shape of a woman's body wearing a bikini.

"Jeff!" She gasps loudly and swats at him almost knocking the glass out of his hands.

"Careful, you break you buy," he smirks, placing it back on the shelf.

She gives him a condescending smile before walking away. "I'm leaning towards a shirt because we have _way_ too much useless crap in our apartment."

When she looks up from shaking a snow globe of the _Hollywood_ sign she realizes Jeff abandoned her.

"Annie!" He calls from a tee-shirt rack. "Get him this!"

She half expects him to be holding a shirt similar to what they saw in the shop window but instead he holds up a 'Kickpuncher LA' shirt.

She places the snow globe back and hurries over to him, "Oh my gosh, yes! It's perfect, he'll geek out over this."

They walk past the ornaments and to the checkout before Annie stops him, "Should we be buying stuff for our other friends?"

"Why?" His eyebrows knit together.

"Because Jeff! They're our family… my family anyway."

"Well, being family doesn't mean you have to bring them back stuffed animals and coffee mugs."

"Fine." She raises her eyebrows and shoves him Abed's shirt at his chest, "If you won't help me pick them out, I will."

Once more he tags along behind Annie, browsing the aisles for what seems like forever.

"Uh, what's taking so long?"

"Jeff, everything in this store is offensive," she retorts pointing to a shirt that says 'my _beaches_ love me'.

"Shirley would _love_ that," he chuckles and Annie rolls her eyes. "Okay, okay. How about getting Shirley a Christmas ornament and Britta..." He looks around the store and his eye automatically catches a coffee mug that has a picture of a cat lying out on the beach. "Get her that," he points.

She picks a surfboard shaped ornament that says in a nice pretty scrawl 'California,' while Jeff grabs the coffee mug for Britta.

After they check out they drop everything off in his car and decide to hang out at the public beach right next to the pier. Jeff pulls out a spare towel he has in his car and they head over to the sand.

The beach is crowded but regardless; it's still relatively clean apart from the few pieces of trash lying here and there. She slips off her flip-flops and hurries on the hot sand to a place to lie out the towel.

Once they sit down Annie sees a group of middle aged women all wearing skimpy bikinis that catch her attention. She leans over to Jeff while crossing her legs on the towel. "Do you see them over there? The group of women?" She tilts her head in their direction.

Jeff's eyes widen, "Real Housewives of Orange County much?"

"Yeah, them. They're talking about you," she elbows him in the side and raises her eyebrows like he's lucky. "I can tell."

One of the women eyes them again and hurries back to her little group.

"Well," he turns back to Annie with a wide, sly smile. "What can I say?"

"Ew, gross!" She gasps as she swats at his shoulder. "Don't tell me you're _actually_ interested!"

"God no, I'm only kidding. Even I have standards."

"No you don't," she laughs.

"Whatever."

Just then one of the women with too much Botox and a noticeable boob job turned around, opened her mouth in surprise, and went back to gossiping with her friends.

"See that?" Annie asks.

"See what?"

"The one with the fake boobs."

"Which one."

Annie rolls her eyes, "The one in the pink bikini." Jeff nods.

"She's been gawking at me, and now they're talking trash about me," she laughs.

"And how could you possibly know that?"

"_A_, I'm a girl. I know these things. And _B_, that's the same look Britta gave me when I started dating Vaughn."

He nods, "Ahh, jealousy at its finest."

One of the women waves at Jeff and then runs out to the water, making sure her boobs bounced the way she wanted them to.

"Is this happening?" Jeff chuckles. "Look at her smile! It's like it's plastered on her face, it's terrifying!"

Eventually the women leave after glaring at Annie one last time and she waves at them in amusement. Their frustration made both Jeff and Annie laugh as the women stomp off.

"Now they're going home to their multimillionaire husbands and their spoiled children," Jeff mumbles.

Annie laughs as she leans back on her palms and stretching her legs out. "What a glamorous lifestyle."

"You're prettier than they are anyway," he leans over and faux whispers.

She laughs at his twisted complement, "Thank you?"

"Oh please, you already know," Jeff chuckles as Annie smiles to herself.

They sit on the towel for a while longer looking at the other patrons of the beach and made a game of drawing things in the sand and making the other person guess what it was. The sun is still high in the sky but it slowly moves down and starts shining in their faces.

It starts to cool down as a light breeze kicks in. Most of the people on the beach were lying out on their towels and enjoying the weather, just like them. And after a little while longer of just sitting around on their towel they decided on packing up the towel and going to see what else there is to do.

They both gravitate toward the pier after they drop off the towel back in the car. She practically skips her way to the pier, while a small smile forms at his lips, it's cute to see her this excited. (He may be a little excited too).

#

"You like rollercoasters?" She asks, her eyes following the cart gliding along the yellow rollercoaster.

He doesn't. Well he wouldn't know- he's never been on one. It's not that he's afraid of heights, but in his old line of work rollercoasters were million-dollar injury suites. He gives her a cool and collected face but she sees right through it.

"Meh," he shrugs.

"I'll hold your hand," she bats her eyelashes and smiles.

He rolls his eyes. "I'll be fine," but he takes her hand anyway. "Look at it, it looks pretty underwhelming."

She nods. The drop isn't high and it basically just makes sharp turns. "Well, I'm sure the view is great."

Jeff is right, it isn't very thrilling but it was cool to see the ocean and the pier from that high. True to her word however, she doesn't let go of his hand. The rollercoaster drops and he feels his stomach drop a little. It's like that feeling when she takes down her hair, or gives him _that _look. And with her hand in his and his stomach fluttering, he feels blissful.

They get off the ride and walk back down to the pier and Annie fishes her phone out of her pocket to take some pictures of the pier. She gets one with the sun perfectly backlighting the Ferris wheel, and another one that captures most of the rides, and some people going about their business. It's almost as bright as it is in real life, but there is something about standing here that makes everything brighter.

"Annie!" Jeff interrupts her train of thought. "Give me that," he snatches her phone from her hands.

"Jeff! God give me a break!"

"No, I was going to take a picture of you," he mutters. "Stand there."

She moves where he tells her, in the middle of the walkway, in the middle of all the rides in the middle of everything. She smooths down her flowing blue and white pinstripe tank top and smiles for the camera.

Just as she walks over to Jeff, a woman taps her on the shoulder asking her to take a picture of her and her family. Annie agrees with a smile and the lady offers to do the same for her and Jeff.

"It's the center button," Annie says as she hands the woman her phone.

Annie snakes her arm around his back, and Jeff wraps his arm around her waist, which makes him pull her closer.

"Okay!" The woman cheers. "One, two, three!"

She gets her phone back and they look at the picture. It's a nice picture, Jeff's happy with the way his hair looks and Annie seems to like it too. She even deems it "Instagram worthy."

It's about six when they make it to the Ferris wheel. It's much better than the rollercoaster, it has same great views, and no whiplash, and also picture taking is actually possible.

Jeff reluctantly gets in a few "selfies" with Annie with the pier and the ocean below them. But after that they just sit and enjoy the views of the Pacific. He watches her as she ties her hair up with the hair tie on her wrist and as she rests her arms against the ledge looking out beyond their gondola.

"This was a good idea," she mumbles still looking down at the tiny waves crashing together.

"The Ferris wheel or coming here?"

"Today. California," she turns around to face him. "All of it."

He smiles softly, "Well, I'm glad you're having a good time. It would have been incredibly boring without you."

She chuckles, closing her eyes and slowly opening them again, back at him. "Thank you for taking me."

He tries to ignore this underlying heat between them. "Thank you for coming," he says with the same fluid tone as hers.

A gust of cool air blows into the cabin and they both sigh at the relief it brings.

#

"Good god, Annie! Just throw it!"

"Jeff! I'm trying!"

He scoffs and eyes the carny laughing at Annie trying to toss the rings on the bottles. "If you toss it up higher," they guy looks around suspiciously. "The games aren't rigged if you know how to play... but uh, don't tell my boss I told you."

Annie laughs, "Thanks."

Seven rings later it lands on a bottle and she jumps up and down.

"Finally," Jeff mumbles.

She squeals again and he cringes.

"Which one would you like," the man points to a colorful display of stuffed animals.

"Jeff, pick."

"Oh, what? No, Annie."

"No!" She giggles, "You pick."

"I don't pick it, you do. Guys do not pick the stuffed animal, it's like an unspoken rule."

"He'll take the puppy dog," Annie smiles as she ignores his groan and points to the Dalmatian with the blue collar and plastic black eyes.

And he just kind-of accepts the oversized Dalmatian that Annie pushes into his arms.

With nothing else to do they decided on having dinner, or something like dinner. They look around, there are plenty of places to eat, they just aren't sure where to go to get food that isn't typical boardwalk type foods to eat: pretzels, cotton candy, ice cream, and fried Oreos? (Jeff practically gags).

They find a hamburger place near the front. They had lunch not too long ago, so they agree to split a large order of fries and Annie gets herself a fluffy pink cloud of cotton candy.

They sit at a bench as the sun starts to set. Annie sits cross-legged across from Jeff and looks around at the pier as it begins to come to life with bright, colorful lights that it reflect in her eyes. He watches her eat her cotton candy and how it stains her lips. He can't help but think she looks like the Fourth of July.

"Imagine what we would have done if we stayed at the house today," she laughs.

"We probably would have done the same thing we did yesterday, and the day before."

She shrugs while picking at her fries. "Well, I'm glad we got out. Today was really fun."

"Well," he smiles, "I'm not sure how we managed to go from a fancy Italian place with nice wine to," he points down at their fries and bottled water. "This."

She chuckles, "Well, we agreed to see where the day took us."

It was no mistake that the 'day' took them here. Here being them together riding rides, sharing a plate of fries, and waiting for the fireworks show. But it wasn't really the 'day' that brought them here; it was just them being spontaneous.

And she likes being spontaneous, so she promises to keep it up. And she's ninety nine percent sure he won't mind at all.

#

The sun finally sets and the iridescent lights of the pier are shining brightly. The waves seem to glow with the reflected light around the pier, still buzzing with the sounds of carnival music, children laughing, and the rides roaring to life.

They watch from the beach as they wait for the fireworks show to start, along with several other people. Annie pulls her phone out and announces she's going to Instagram some of her pictures. She chooses the one of a popsicle that she took yesterday, and he laughs as she looks for the perfect filter to use.

"Sooo," she starts, stretching out her legs. "What do you want to do tomorrow?"

He shrugs, "It's whatever. We can play it by ear like we did today."

She nods silently. Spontaneous. Try to be spontaneous.

It basically goes against her 'must plan everything' philosophy, but they had fun today. She's sure they'll have fun tomorrow.

A loud boom in the sky interrupts her thought process.

The fireworks explode into red, white, and blue specks in the sky, followed by the flaming tails of rockets going into the sky. One by one they watch the fireworks shoot off in the sky as they lean back on their hands. She rests her head on his shoulder as he pretends not to notice her smiling softly to herself.

About forty failed attempts later (and one success), she gets a picture of the fireworks lighting up the sky before the show is over.

Realizing everyone would be leaving soon; they quickly get up and run back to the car while people are still applauding the show to try to beat traffic. Annie drags behind until Jeff tells her to get on his back and they run.

Part of her knows that they're doing this for non traffic related reasons, but she's okay with that.

The whole way there they're laughing obnoxiously because he almost tripped on the curb and Annie almost fell off.

He feels her body up against his back, her legs around his waist, he can feel the breath of her laughter on his neck, and she's so tempting. Just as tempting as she was on the beach in her swimsuit, or when she just smiles. She's tempting in the dark, and any time of day.

And before he can pin her to the car and kiss her how he's wanted to for this whole trip (scratch that, for the last year or so), she's walking around to the passenger seat of his car, giving him her most alluring smile.

This is why she's dangerous.

#

The drive back home is pretty uneventful. Occasionally they'll see some fireworks, but for the most part it's just the midnight sky. Annie plays her iPod with no objections from Jeff and they just enjoy the silence between them for a while.

They get back around nine thirty. It's hardly been twelve hours since they woke up, so neither of them is tired- just physically exhausted.

It's a nice night, the breeze is strong and it feels comfortable so they sit outside on the covered couch and drink beer. He stretches his legs and rests his feet on the coffee table while she presses her knees to her chest.

She swirls the beer around in her bottle and she realizes they haven't said anything since they got home.

"So," she starts. "Today was fun, right?"

he's mid sip as he nods and swallows. "Yeah, good way to celebrate."

She sighs, "I always loved the Fourth of July. Not as much stress. No gift giving, no passive aggressive family members trying to one-up gifts, just sparklers and food."

"The Fourth of July and New Years," he adds. "Plus on New Years it's a good time to get drunk on Champagne because you won't have work tomorrow."

She tilts her bottle in agreement, "True."

"And there's Thanksgiving too," he adds.

"Well, just because Thanksgiving isn't a gift giving holiday doesn't mean it's not stressful," she mumbles. "I don't know. I've always hated Thanksgiving. Always. Everyone would just suck everything up and pretend we were all happy and what not."

"I get that. Thanksgiving was always just my mom, my grandparents, and I. But it wasn't bad."

Annie feels her body warm up. They've hit personal territory again. Maybe it's selfish that she feels good about someone opening up to her but more importantly she feels happy for Jeff. Last night he talked about his dad, and now his mom and grandparents, and she can't help but feel overwhelmed.

"So, you like Thanksgiving?"

He nods, "I mean back then my mom would wake me up early and we'd drive to my grandparents and sometimes my cousins would go and we'd pick them up on the way. My grandparents were the best at making my mom feel like she wasn't alone you know?"

She nods, amazed, just like she was last night. This new side of Jeff spilling out in front of her left her speechless.

"It was one time of year where my mom felt okay without my dad," he sighs, looking at his feet.

"Jeff," she mumbled.

"Yeah," his focused on the ground.

She moves her knees to the side and sits under them. She places her half empty bottle on the floor and shuffles over to him where she's facing him completely. She knew what he was doing. The lack of eye contact was Jeff's way of distancing himself and she was sick of it.

"Look at me." Her voice is hardly a whisper.

He does, his eyes meet hers and it sends a chill down her spine.

She folds her hands in her lap and rests her side against the back of the couch. "I know it's hard to open up-"

"Not to you," he interrupts.

It's not the first time he's left her speechless, but somehow this time it's a different kind of speechless. The kind of speechless that leaves a long silence that's not at all awkward. And it where it's not them looking at each other it's them looking into each other.

She sighs "I hated Hanukkah with my mom, loved Christmas with my dad."

"Dad was the better parent?" he muses.

She lets out a dry, uncomfortable laugh and starts to pick at her nails. "God no."

"Oh?"

"I just liked Christmas because my dad actually tried to make his kids happy, you know?"

He doesn't know. His mom made him happy, his dad didn't try.

"What about the other three hundred and sixty four days?" He asks taking a long pull of his beer.

She shook her head, "He had anger issues. _Bad_ anger issues. Like supervised visits for six months type of anger issues."

Shit. She feels that lump in her throat, which means she's moments away from crying.

"Much of his 'abuse' was verbal," she finger quotes and huffs out a forced laugh. "If you even call that abuse… But let's just say I lied when I said that I broke my arm climbing a tree in the third grade."

"Annie," he gasps.

She lets out a dry laugh, trying not to cry and to lighten the situation. "I mean it's not like he _snapped_ my arm, he just pushed me down the stairs it wasn't- Well it was bad, but it could be worse. I mean, I could have cracked my head," she hiccups and abandons the rest of her sentence as tears well up in the corner of her eye. She tilts her head back, hoping they would seep back into her eyes. "I don't think I've ever told that to anyone before."

She gives up on trying to hide her tears as one rolls down her face, but that's all she's allowing.

"I had no idea," he mumbles. Jeff grabs her hand and with another he hesitantly cups her jaw with his hand and brushes her tear away.

She bites the inside of her cheek and forces a smile as his hand slides off of her face, "Parents suck."

He chuckles, "They really do."

She wipes her eyes with the back of her hands, "You know what? It's so easy to be negative, so let's be positive."

He smiles softly, "Good idea."

A flashing light and a loud boom interrupts them as they look out into the dark.

"No wonder the weather was so nice today," she says shifting her legs out from under her looking out at the sky. "A storm is coming in."

Thunder and lightning struck again.

"Well, what can we do tomorrow if it rains?" He asks.

She shrugs, "We can just hang out inside? We can see how the weather is in the morning and make our decision."

"Sounds good."

The lightning strikes far away from them in the ocean, as they stand there mesmerized as the sky lit up.

"I love storms," she sighs.

"Freak," he mumbles under his breath.

"Don't call me a freak because you're scared." She shoves him and he catches her hands and holds them tightly, and looks back up at her.

"I'm not scared."

She smiles coyly, "Well, I'm not a freak."

"I know."

Lightning strikes again and in that brief moment of brightness, Jeff notices another tear falling down her face.

"Hey," he mutters, pulling her closer to him and moving her legs across his. "Don't cry."

She rests her face on his shoulder, "I'm happy," she breathes as another tear runs down her face and spreads on the fabric of his shirt.

"Are you sure?"

She nods 'yes.' "I'm staying positive."

He sighs, "You can cry because you're sad you know."

"But I'm happy," she says once more, looking up at him. "I'm happy I'm here."

Her eyes look up from their hands and into his, their faces inches away from him.

"I'm happy you're here." His voice is so low it's hardly a whisper.

Annie can barely hear him, she just feels the vibrations. His hand is still on her face and his thumb slowly slides back and forth across her cheek. Slowly, her eyes close and he tightens his arm around her somehow bringing her closer to him.

The lightning occasionally illuminates them. He thinks back to the lights at the pier and it's nothing like what he's seeing now. He's seeing the wet lines of tears down her face, he's seeing her smile, he's seeing her soul light up through her eyes. He's seeing her.

Another tear rolls down her face and Jeff wipes it away with his thumb before kissing her damp skin. She places a hand over his and pulls it down off her face and onto his chest over his heart. Annie feels his heartbeat accelerate. There's a hitch in his breath when he places his forehead against hers.

He watches another tear fall.

"Annie, you're crying."

She bites her lower lips and smiles brightly, "Sometimes I cry when good things happen."

He raises an eyebrow at her, "Is this a good thing?"

Annie nods before pressing a soft kiss to his lips. Before he can melt into her kiss, she leans back to watch him. "This is a good thing."

They stay frozen for a moment until she feels him gently slide his hand into her hair as she brings her hand up from his chest and snakes it around his neck, her fingers leaving a burning trail behind.

His mouth claims her upper lip and they sigh into the kiss as their noses clash against one another before their lips can slide together lightly and effortlessly. She starts to toy with the neckline of his shirt, running her fingers across fabric and onto his skin causing a chill to go down his spine. He reaches around and presses her body as close as he can without changing the position.

Jeff feels her pull away and he watches her eyes slowly open, as a tentative smile slowly slides across her lips. He lets out a low laugh and frantically he captures her lips again.

It's not slow anymore. It's fast, heated, and intense as his hands grasp her back and trace her spine over the thin material of her shirt. Underneath his mouth she tilts her head up and inhales sharply through her nose. His mouth hovers over hers hungrily and she presses up and parts her lips under his.

Wanting to feel as much of him as she can, she maneuvers herself to straddle him rocking her whole body up against his setting a fire inside of the both of them. Jeff tilts his head against hers and kisses along her cheekbone to underneath her ear, eliciting a low groan from her. As she melts into his kisses he stops to suck on the sensitive skin along her neck.

He shifts her to the side and crawls out from under and gently moves up her body as she lies down on the couch. Stopping to place agonizingly slow kisses along her collar bone, she arches her back into him, sighing as he moves back down her chest and stopping at where her skin disappears under the fabric of her tank top. Annie's hands find their way back to his neck as he crawls up her body to claim her lips softly.

Thunder shakes the walls with a vibration making her giggle against his mouth. She presses a finger between their lips and slowly opens her eyes. Jeff scoots off of her as she pushes herself up and wipes her eyes.

They both laugh nervously as they adjust their hair and clothes. He brushes hair out of her face and she blushes and bites her lip innocently.

"I better go to bed," she stifles through a yawn.

He nods, and she walks away. She turns around at the door and smiles warmly, "Goodnight Jeff, see you tomorrow."


	6. Chapter 6

Spoilers: Current  
>Disclaimer: I don't own Community<br>Authors Note: Wow, thanks for reading everyone! And special thanks to my dear friend Caitlin (Wandering Violinist) for the beta and everything else.

Title comes from Of Monsters and Men's song From Finner

* * *

><p>There are a few moments in the morning when Annie wakes up that she feels fine.<p>

Then it hits her.

Whatever it was the came over them last night was what both of them had been denying themselves for a long long time. They didn't say anything after, which she's not sure if that made things better or worse. It was tension relieving, and felt right.

She sits up in her bed and looks out the window like she had been doing every morning.

There was a gentle thrumming of rain that she could hear on the roof, and the clouds were dark and gray sending the ocean tide wild. As she focuses on her breathing she thinks about yesterday. Jeff had taken her out, and they had a date. And they kissed.

So what?

She needs coffee.

Scrambling out of bed she walks down stairs careful to not wake up Jeff, and hoping that he wasn't already up. When she gets to the kitchen, everything is still and quiet and she is the only one up.

She breathes a sigh of relief.

Trying to clear her mind, she precisely measures out her coffee beans and grinds them up. She throws the filter in place and watches as her coffee drips into her mug. She adds the perfect amount of creamer and sugar and takes her mug upstairs back to her room.

She grabs a towel and steps out on to the balcony. Her feet splash in the small puddles on the wood beams as she drags a chair under the cover of the roof. She wipes it down and then tries to get comfortable in the plastic lawn chair. It's unbelievably humid out, but mixed with the coolness of the rain it feels warm, but nice. The coffee sends warmth through her hand sending a shiver down her spine.

Beyond the rails of the deck lays the roaring ocean that seems to disappear beyond the gray clouds. It's almost comforting. She doesn't know what about being curled up in a chair with a coffee while watching the rain is so comforting, but it is. The ocean is dark and roaring and she watches everything about it. Her leg slides off of the chair and she skims her toe along the slippery wet wood beneath her. She sighs and closes her eyes, concentrating on each breath and not the kiss.

Not the way he held her, or the squeamish feeling she got when his thumb brushed under her shirt along the small of her back. His mouth, her neck, hands, tongues.

Her eyes shoot open.

She wishes that she were the person that could storm into his room and get to the bottom of the kiss, their behavior, everything that had gone on between them. But she won't. She knows she'd get a confession out of him, not 'it was a mistake' or any excuse like that. He's evolved; she's watched him change into the person he is now. She knows he cares, and it's not that she's that cocky; it's just that he is that obvious.

Speak of the devil.

She doesn't flinch when she hears the door slide open. She knew that this was coming and there wasn't really a way to not talk about it.

"Hey," she hears from behind.

She turns around to see Jeff walking up next to her chair.

"Good morning," it almost sounds like a question.

Annie hands him the towel she brought out and he wipes down a chair next to her.

He sits down and breathes a sigh of relief. No one seems mad, and no one has told the other to go to hell, so that's good.

"There is coffee down stairs," she mumbles not taking her eyes of the ocean.

From the corner of her eye she see's him nod. "Have you eaten?"

She didn't know how reluctant she was to take her eyes off the ocean, but she does and looks at him. "I had yogurt."

He nods again. "Then I'll go get something from downstairs."

Annie almost let's him walk completely inside but she doesn't, "Wait," she starts as she get's up.

He stops by the door raises his eyebrows.

"I'm going inside, too." She pauses. "If you want company."

He breathes a silent laugh as a smile flickers on his face, "sure."

She nods and goes inside. She's not sure where they stand yet, but it's a start.

#

The kitchen is cold and gloomy. The floor to ceiling windows where the sun would stream through now has raindrops slowly sliding down. The only light is whatever can shine through the clouds and through the window, reflecting eerie shadows throughout the room as the rain danced down the windows. Neither of them bothered to turn on a light. Jeff walks straight to the refrigerator and Annie sits atop the counter.

She looks out to the side, watching the rain slide down the windows. Her hair is a little damp and messy, her shirt is baggy and hangs off her shoulder and the dim light makes her skin shine in this darkness, and it's nice to see her not as put together as usual. The light there is fills the dull room behind her, leaving only the silhouette for him to see.

He catches her attention when he walks over to her to get a cup from the cupboard above her. As he approaches he can see more detail of her, like the slow smile pulling on her lips, or the way her eyes widen a little bit when he looks at her. She leans to the side so he can get into the cabinet and her eyes watch him as he sets the glass down beside her. He hears her breath out a small laugh out of nervousness when he doesn't leave, like getting the cup was some excuse to get close to her.

Her eyes soften as she straightens up, and her chest is rising and falling with each breath and this time she makes the decision to kiss him.

His nose lightly brushes the corner of her mouth before his lips trail down to hers. It's unhurried at first, but when her mouth opens under his the pace changes. Her legs relax on the counter and he pushes his way between her knees to hold her closer. His hands grab her waist and slowly trail to her lower back brushing lazy lines back and forth. His thumb brushes on the sliver of exposed skin and she almost arches into it.

She can tell he's being carful. His hand skirts away from her bare skin but she pulls him closer into her. Their tongues are sliding together now and finally, when she's on the verge of begging fingers slide back over her bare skin. Her arms wrap around his neck and play with his hair as one hand teases her skin while the other grasps her back over her tee shirt.

It's frantic now. Both of his hands slide over her bare skin and she's changing the angle of their kiss completely. Her hand cups his jaw while the other slides down his chest. He lets out a throaty groan and she can't help but giggle.

Her legs lock around his waist and he's kissing her neck and they're about seconds from making their way to the couch, or bed, or just undressing right there as she sits on the kitchen counter- oh dear.

Annie slows and starts to giggle. Jeff leans back and raises his brow.

"We should," she starts quietly and tilts her head shyly and looks away, "we should do something?"

He nods slowly sliding his hands off of her and rests them on either side of her legs.

"Do you want to go out?"

She shrugs, "Do you want to?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I didn't want to."

"Okay," she mumbles hopping off the counter, "Let's go out."

In an hour they're sitting in his car watching the rain tap on the windshield, trying to think of something to do. The rain rules out half of the places they could go, and neither wants to drive too far.

They decide on brunch, it's Annie's idea. It's raining and a little foggy out, and brunch seems comforting. She ate breakfast but it was only yogurt, and Jeff hasn't eaten anything yet. And by the time he's backing out of the driveway Annie has a name of a place to eat.

The awkwardness is kept to a minimum as Jeff drives and his music plays. She's not speaking, and he doesn't know if that's good or bad. He gathers that she's not upset, or too worried. When he woke up he had expected a lecture, or for her to at least bring up the kiss again. Less than an hour ago he heard her breathing in his ear when he kissed her neck, and felt her hands run through his hair. But now she's looking out the window humming along to the music as he almost misses his exit.

He shouldn't worry unless she says something, he knows he's overthinking this and it's Annie.

He pulls to a slow and carful stop when he gets to a light. He smiles at her, and she smiles back, leans over and presses a gentle non-lingering kiss on his lips before the light can turn green.

#

"Do you want to do anything else today?" Jeff asks, squeezing lemon into his water.

They're sitting in a booth at a fairly empty restaurant. It's still pouring outside and everyone inside looks dead tired and depressed as they slouch over cups of coffee.

She sighs contently and shakes her head, "No, there isn't really anything else I want to do."

"So we just," he motions between them, "hang out?"

She shrugs, "I'd like that."

Oddly enough it's not as uncomfortable as it could have been. They really don't say a whole lot to each other besides a few comments here and there about if it's raining in Greendale, or if she's spoken to any one of their friends since they've been here, and what is he going to do with the puppy dog stuffed animal toy he won last night. He smiles, she smiles and bites her lip in a way that makes him want to do last night and this morning all over again.

The check comes, and he catches Annie squinting at it trying to make out the numbers.

"You are going to let me pay right?" He asks pulling out his credit card.

She rolls her eyes and kicks him under the table. Jeff grins at her as he sets his card down and he feels relieved that the dynamic between them hasn't changed.

#

Reluctantly, they leave. They stand under the awning prolonging walking in the rain. Annie tries to count to three and then make a run for it, but neither budge when she gets to three. They still stand in the same spot as the rain pours down, into playfully trying to push each other in the rain. Without warning Jeff grabs Annie's arm and tugs her out under the awning and to the car. She shrieks in surprise and they both hurry to the car laughing. She breaks away from him and hurries into the passenger's side of the car.

Their laughter dies down and soon it's just the noises of the rain gently pattering on the windows and them catching their breath. Jeff's resting his head on the back of the seat and Annie tries to get her wet hair off her neck. Her hand is combing through her damp hair when she feels Jeff's hand on hers. Slowly she turns to look at him as she brushes hair to the side and she giggles quietly.

He brushes his lips on her cheek, near her ear. Then he moves lower onto her jaw and down to her lips. Almost instantly her mouth opens under his and as he moves in closer to grasp her hips she can't help but laugh at the situation.

"What?" He asks combing his fingers down her tangled wet hair.

She shakes her head and motions around her, "This."

He raises an eyebrow at her as he places his hands on his thighs.

"I mean, could we be any more textbook right now?"

He chuckles, "It's raining, we're in the car, I mean, I _could_ have kissed you in the rain, but the car is close enough."

She shakes her head, "No you wouldn't do that. You wouldn't want to mess up your hair."

"Eh," he shrugs as he starts his car, "It would have been worth it."

#

They're slipping into a comfort zone. Neither knows where it begins or where it ends, but the car ride home isn't as painful as they had thought. They bicker and banter about pointless things because he loves arguing just as much as she does. They laugh, hum along to a song they know, and tell stupid jokes like they would do normally.

There's a tingling in her stomach and a smile stretching on her face and she's almost content to let the day pan out but she feels too vulnerable. She feels like she shouldn't be getting attached, or that she should be expecting the worst so that she won't feel pain.

She looks over at him, tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel and nodding his head to the beat of the song that's playing. He smiles at her, and she realizes that he doesn't want pain either. He's just as afraid as she is, and that thought is somehow comforting.

When they get home, it's still pouring. They rush into the house, dry but cold.

The living area and kitchen are just as dark and dreary as it was this morning. Jeff leans on the wall close to her as she sets her purse down on the kitchen island. Her eyes are fixed on the corner of the on the countertop where his untouched glass from this morning sits.

When he walks over he sees a smile start to form as she looks up at him from under her eyelashes. He sweeps his fingertips across her jaw and under her chin as she feels a rosy flush creeping under her skin. His thumb slides under her chin and tilts her face up and leans down without much effort on her part.

His other hand sends chills down her spine when his fingers splay across the back of her neck. He presses a slow, gentle kiss on her lips. When her hands find their way onto his body he loses himself in her. Her hands are around his neck and his hands at her waist, slowly moving up and down her back pressing her up against him.

They stumble toward the couch. He guides her down with him as she leans her back into the couch as his body presses against her. She feels his tongue in her mouth then his lips on her neck, then kissing along her collarbone. She feels his hands tracing aimless circles on the small of her back and holding her against him and silently, she's begging for more from him.

He feels her slow down and hears her inhale sharply through her nose. He braces himself on his forearms to look down at her, and sees her hair sprawled across the cushions, her lips slightly parted, and her eyes slowly opening. With his thumb he brushes a strand of hair off her forehead. She seems relaxed, but when she opens her mouth her words almost shake.

"Can we just..." she starts but doesn't finish.

He raises an eyebrow, "Too much?"

She laughs quietly and smiles, "No. I just-" she scrunches her face trying to think of the right words to say, and he chuckles as he crawls off of her. "Slow," she finally says. "Let's take it slow."

He breathes out a quiet laugh scoots over to the opposite side of the couch and adjusts a pillow behind his back. "Okay," He pulls out the remote and she nods. "We'll watch TV."

They end up on opposite sides of the couch watching an episode of 'How I Met Your Mother,' but neither is paying attention. Jeff's mind is racing as he runs though the events of last night. He glances over at her sitting cross-legged with her back wedged between the corners of the couch.

This was the same woman whom he had on her back last night and a few moments ago. This morning he was standing between her legs as she sat on the counter. He finally had her the way he had wanted her for years after denying her for so long. Yesterday morning, they were literally rolling around in his bed and he eventually had her pinned to the mattress. He had her the way he wanted while hiking, while at the beach, while at the pier, this whole trip. And he didn't even realize how much of her he had been missing until now.

He wants to keep her at a distance for obvious reasons. He doesn't want to hurt her, but he's realizing that he is just as vulnerable as she is. He's attached. If she gets hurt so does he, and that idea scares him.

She finds she can't focus on the show for more than a minute. It all comes back to the way he had her moments ago, pressed against the couch, breathing heavily, and probably minutes away from taking clothes off. It wouldn't be a bad thing- them being together. It would just be new, awkward and a little uncomfortable at first. She thinks eventually she'd get the hang of it. And she's not stupid, she knows Jeff cares and wants her in every way. She's gambling, and somewhere in her head Shirley is telling her to roll the dice.

She sighs and looks over to Jeff about to start a conversation but finds his eyes closed and mouth open. So she takes a walk.

The downpour is more of a drizzle now, but the clouds are still covering the sky. When she steps outside the air is salty and humid, and without the rain it's warm. She kicks off her shoes and walks on the wet sand; leaving foot prints behind.

She wants to let herself feel content, but she can't. Not with Jeff sleeping inside and them not having talked about whatever the hell this is. With every footstep she takes a lump grows in her throat. Days ago, she was walking on the same beach telling herself "nothing has to mean anything." And here she is trying to keep from tears spilling, how could she have been this stupid. How could it not end like this? They're best friends, and now they're—whatever this is. And they really didn't need a trip to California to complicate their already complicated feelings.

She looks out at the now polluted ocean that's now a shade of dark blue. The waves go wild as they crash into one another and she feels so small and so lost.

Annie made careful decisions after weighing the benefits and the consequences. She was smart and she always prided herself on being smart. But somewhere between Greendale and here she stopped thinking, and she's not sure if it's good or bad.

If she had done what she had wanted this week, she'd be inside with him now. She's not sure that they would have taken things too far, but they would have progressed beyond what's happening now. She would be inside curled up against him, maybe resting on the white sheets in his bed curling up under him. Their sweet laughter would fill the room and maybe things would progress maybe they wouldn't, but in a perfect world she would be inside dealing with the situation.

"Annie!"

He catches her off guard, and she nearly jumps three feet in the air when she hears Jeff call her name.

She turns around, clutching her heart in her hand and laughs when she realizes it's only Jeff. She didn't realize how far she had actually walked. The house was small in the distance now and Jeff approaches her with his hands in his pockets.

He gives her a nod 'hello' and keeps walking with her.

She feels herself blush as she pushes hair out of her face. "Hey."

"You left," it kind of sounds like it's a question rather than a statement.

She bits her lip as she nods slowly. "I needed time to think."

"About…?"

There is a brief moment of hesitation before she actually says what she's thinking. "What we're doing," she mutters as she looks down at the footprints in the sand.

Out of the corner of her eye she sees him nod. "Well?"

She sighs and looks back up at him, "Well, does what happen in California stay in California and we blame this on- I don't know, us being on vacation?"

She stops walking, crosses her arms and faces him as he turns to face her straight on. She refuses to look at him and keeps her eyes on the waves.

"Is that what you want?" He asks, his voice shaky.

She visibly deflates and closes her eyes before taking a breath. "No, but it's what's easiest."

He looks down in thought and cocks his head to the side, "Since when do you go after what's easy?"

A hint of a small smile crawls across her face, "I know," she huffs out a dry, sad laugh. "But our lives just move fast, it just- it wouldn't work. And I don't want to go into something that I really want to work knowing that it won't."

"How do you know it won't?"

"Jeff, I'm supposed to be starting my life- my career, and soon I hope. I'm not going to be in Greendale forever. I mean there's graduate school and getting a job wherever I can find one I just-"

"Annie," He cuts her off sharply. "Your life moves fast. Teaching at Greendale is a pretty slow pace life, so if that's your argument- I don't get it. You're important to me," He resists the urge to pull her into an embrace.

"So I end up 1,000 miles away from home," She suggests bitingly. "What do you do?"

"I do whatever I can to keep you in my life. Frequent flyer miles, leave Greendale completely, or do everything I can to keep you in the state."

She sounds so shocked. "You'd _seriously_ pick up and move?" She comes across as doubtful because it's Jeff she's talking to, the conversation god himself who will say pretty much anything to get what he wants.

His eyes are wide as he nods 'yes'. "You're more important than a lot of other things, like doing things the 'easy way'," which he finger quotes. "The easy way would be me not trying to hold on to you. You're more important to me than that."

"Then why-" She stops herself, and wonders if she should actually say what she's thinking. "Then why did you almost marry Britta?"

She crosses her arms and looks up at him with her eyebrows raised and sees him visibly deflate.

"Why?" She asks more firm. "If I am more important to you than what is easy, why did you do it? Because I don't picture you thinking marriage as 'easy.'"

He sighs, "I didn't- Annie, you already know I wasn't thinking." She rolls her eyes at his suggestion. "I. Was. Scared." He comes back louder. "She was someone that is easy to hold on to. I didn't-" he sighs and recollects himself. "I didn't love her, like I love you."

She freezes, and tries to not get caught up on the last part of his sentence.

"Well," she closes her eyes and takes a huge breath of salty air. "If you do," she struggles before she can finish, "love me, then why not hold on to me?"

"Annie! I didn't hold on to you, because I love you! Because I care about you more than I care about me, and I know that I," he gestures to himself. "I am not good for you, being with you is easy but not good for you! I am toxic. Britta is toxic. Why would I go ruin someone else who I care about?"

Then it snaps into place. Her mouth hangs open as she eyes the waves out in the distance. "Because you care about me more than what's easiest."

They're silent. He's almost shaking out of a mix of adrenalin, anger, frustration, and he want's to just burst and let everything go.

"I'm sorry," he mutters under his breath before he retreats back to the house leaving Annie out there alone in the drizzling rain.

#

It takes full five minuets for her to actually swallow his words. And once she does a lump in her throat grows rapidly. She slows her breathing to keep from choking out a sob, but has no such luck. His words are stuck on repeat as they ring in her head.

_I didn't love her like I love you._

_Because I love you._

She feels horrible. He loves her, and she's getting mad at him. He made things harder for himself because he loved her. He wanted what is best for her, even if that wasn't him. He loves her more than he loves being selfish.

She wants to vomit. Or bury her head in the sand. Or both.

When she closes her eyes tightly, a few tears slide out. Jeff isn't supposed to love her, he's supposed to not believe in love and still pat her on the head. And _she's _not supposed to doubt him.

Of course this happens, Jeff and Annie go to the beach and the trip ends the way anyone would expect, with a cluster of emotions scattered all over the place. And she feels like she might die if they don't pick them up.

#

Jeff sits on the couch slouched over his knees and clasps his hands between them. He shuts his eyes and tries to think of literally anything else.

If he was back in Greendale, this is where he would be downing every drop of alcohol in his apartment and wouldn't leave his couch for the next few days.

He's supposed to be the positive constant in her life. But being a positive constant person to anyone is not something he does. He's terrified of losing her, because she's the positive constant person in his life, and he feels horrible that he can't be the same for her.

He's brought back to reality when the door slides open, and he cringes.

"Why are _you_ sorry?" Annie's voice is calm, steady and firm. "I'm the sorry one, I shouldn't have gotten mad, or doubted your feelings."

He doesn't say anything, and she feels like crying and hugging him and trying to express every single emotion she's feeling.

"And you're not bad for me, you're one of the best things that's ever happened to me."

His eyes are still closed and he doesn't move from his position on the couch. "You don't know that." He sighs and clasps his hands together between his knees as she looks up.

"I don't know what I can tell you that will make you understand that you are not a bad person." She moves from the door and sits between Jeff and the edge of the couch. "Jeff, a bad person doesn't care about someone else's happiness more than their happiness."

Her hand crawls over his catching his attention. She gently squeezes it and tries to catch a glimpse of his eyes as he looks up. He overlooks her and looks out the window before returning her glance.

She offers a tentative smile, "You're not a bad person. So apology not needed and not accepted."

He blinks slowly before nodding and returning a small smile. She leans forward and presses a firm, closed mouth, kiss to his lips and before she backs away his arms slide around her waist pulling her into a warm hug.

"Trust me, you're so much greater than you think you are," he feels the heat of her breath roll down his neck.

She presses a light kiss on the corner of his mouth before she rests her head on his shoulder.

"Thanks," she hardly hears him mutter.

He rests his nose on her head, taking in the smell of peaches and vanilla that makes his stomach twinge every time he smells it. His eyes close as he sinks into the back of the couch as she sinks into him. Their heartbeats vibrate though their bodies, and it feels like there is a live wire weaving them together. He strokes her soft hair, and he feels lost in sensation, in Annie. Her fingers twirl in the fabric of his shirt every so often brushing against his stomach making it contract. His hand is gently smoothing down her hair lulling her into a deep state of comfortable relaxation.

"So," her voice is low and groggy. "Do you just want to..."

"Hang out?" He finishes.

He looks down at her to find that she's already looking up at him, "Yeah," she nods. "We can do that."

#

It's pushing six o'clock now and they haven't moved from the couch. His arm is draped over the back of the couch and he's wedged in the corner of the couch as she rests her head on his lap with her feet stretched out. They were channel surfing until Jeff spotted the DVD cabinet with a few seasons of Friends. Then Annie made popcorn so they could binge watch Friends and try to not make things any more awkward.

And in the back of her mind, he loves her.

She balances the bowl of popcorn on her stomach and hears Jeff snicker.

He loves her.

There is the blush that crawls up her body and she's trying to think about a normal way to go about them hanging out. She doesn't know if there is a line to cross anymore. She could reach up and kiss him and flip him over on his back, she could wrestle him out of his clothing until its just skin. It's unusual to not have restrictions, but something is holding her back even though she knows that he wouldn't argue with her.

She pulls her head off his lap and he follows her with his eyes and raises his eyebrows.

"Dinner?" She asks.

He nods silently and follows.

#

All through dinner he is thankful for the silence. It's not that there is nothing to say, because there certainly is. But with everything out and off their chest there is no elephant in the room. And somehow the silence is saying more than they possibly can.

He thinks if he opens his mouth some noise between a choking sound and a sob might come out. It's too overwhelming for words.

The screech of their forks scraping the plates fills the room. She takes an audible breath and a slow smile pulls at her lips. He chuckles lightly and she bits her lip and blushes. Whatever this is, it's working.

#

The yellow nail polish on her fingers chipped off days ago, and it's almost gone on her toes. While Jeff cleaned up dinner she fished out a bottle of coral nail polish and brought it down stairs.

She sits on the floor with her back against the couch and her legs extended up to the coffee table while half watching an episode of Family Feud.

She hears the water turn off and footsteps walking over to the couch. Jeff sits down on the couch with his legs to the side of her. Gently, he nudges her arm and she glares at him with a smile. He watches her slowly paint each nail and blow on each one. The TV seems to almost fade away as he continues to watch her. When on her nails on her left are dry, she brushes her hair slowly behind her ear, like she was trying to mess with him.

When she's done she doesn't move from where she's sitting. Her head rests on the couch and she tilts her head up to look right past Jeff. And there is something so comforting about this moment. It's silent, comfortable, and feels normal how slow and fluid a moment this is.

She sighs as she stands up. "I'm going to get a Popsicle."

He chuckles, "Allllright."

"Would you like one?" She asks from behind the couch.

She grabs two popsicles from the freezer, one red the other blue. She comes back and he's in the same spot.

"Sun's setting," he motions outside.

"It usually does," she smirks as she walks out to the deck.

He rolls his eyes, follows her and then takes the red Popsicle out of her hand.

Somehow, after doing nothing all day, both of them are exhausted. It was probably more of an emotionally draining day than anything, but it doesn't change how tired they feel. The sofa is now dry, and they fall back on it with bodies feeling more weighted than usual. Annie musters up the strength to curl up to Jeff and eat her Popsicle, which turns her mouth blue. She places the Popsicle stick on the ground, and leans back into Jeff.

He has one hand holding his Popsicle, and the other gently stroking her hair and lulling her heavy, sleepy body to sleep.

The ocean sounds play in the background. The sun falls beneath the ocean, and soon she's asleep on his chest, and he can't help but close his eyes as well.

"Jeff?" She murmurs.

He opens one eye to peer down at her, resting still at his side. "Mmm?"

"I love you, too."


End file.
